The Royal Palace of Carthage or nowadays Zarrouk Palace was a residence of the Tunisian

Beys Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

, in

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. The palace has influences from Ottoman styles, as well as Arab and Andalusian influences.

History

General Ahmed Zarrouk, son in law of was renowned for his actions during the Mejba Revolt in 1864. Around 1860, he constructed a palace in Carthage, which he used as his residence. The General's son expanded the estate around the palace. In 1922, the palace was acquired by the Bey of Tunis, Muhammad VI al-Habib (1858–1929), where he spent his last years by the sea. In 1943, Lamine Bey (1881–1962) choose it as one of his main royal palaces, making multiple transformations and enhancements. On 31 July 1954, Lamine Bey welcomed the new French prime minister,

Pierre Mendès France Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (; 11 January 190718 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a c ...

in his Carthage palace, who announced internal autonomy for Tunisia. After the monarchy was abolished in 1957, the palace was confiscated by the Tunisian state. It was initially used as the first headquarters for the Tunisian Office of Handicrafts and later for the Tunisian Institute of Archaeology and Art, before being abandoned. It became the seat of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts ( Beit al-Hikma Foundation) in 1983. On 21 January 2021, the palace was classified as a historical monument.

References

Literature

External links

* {{coord, 36.85195, 10.33242, format=dms, type:landmark_region:TN, display=title Buildings and structures in Tunisia Palaces in Tunisia Royal residences in Tunisia Tunisian monarchy