The Sahara Museum

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The Sahara Museum, housed in an Andalusian-style hall, is the newest of Tunisia’s museums. It was founded in 1997. While its name suggests that this space is dedicated to the vast and fascinating environment of the Sahara, it is more accurate to consider it a reflection of the life (plant, animal, and human) of a “corner” of the great Sahara located between the Grand Erg and the southern edge of the Chott el Jerid, in southwestern Tunisia.

This choice is not accidental, as this country serves as the gateway to the Great South and, to some extent, remains the last territory of nomadism in Tunisia. Thus, this environment and the people who inhabit it are inextricably linked to the Sahara and contribute to its civilization and its mystique.

Sahara Museum — Desert, Nomads and Artistic Expression

The museum’s visitor experience introduces them to the physical environment and its natural components: vegetation and fauna; then it introduces them to oasis and nomadic civilizations through the material objects of daily life, the meaning of symbols, and artistic expression as manifested in the decoration of ceremonial objects (weavings, jewelry, etc.) or in tattoos, which have now fallen into disuse.