The Bardo National Museum (Le Musee National du Bardo), which boasts the world’s largest collection of Roman mosaics, is enjoying roaring success after reopening its doors to the public in July this year.
The project, which cost over 19 million dinar (around $16k), and created over 9,000 sq m or new space in the once-dilapidated museum, has brought a new lease of life to tourism in the capital.
The redevelopment and space creation has meant that the Bardo now has the capacity to accept one million visitors per year, which is having a fantastic effect on further improving Tunis’ status as a cultural capital for tourists.
With most of the pieces in it having been moved from sites in Tunisia and North Africa, for example Carthage, tourists wouldn’t expect anything less than to see something magnificent upon visiting.
Unlike the collections usually found in other Mediterranean countries, the Bardo contains an absolutely stunning collection of Roman and Byzantine mosaics, the majesty and artistry of which not remotely marred by the two-thousand years since merchants installed them into their palaces across the Med.
The once heavy, gloomy interior now offers a colourful, shining example of what a great Mediterranean museum could and should be – something that shows off the treasures within in an enticing manner.
Tourists are reporting that the shiny new threshold is a pleasure to cross over, and that they are met with incredible discs of colour and energy crowd that together on a new wall situated cleverly beneath a skylight. The walls have been masterfully and thoughtfully curved around the mosaics in order to make them, not the walls themselves, dictate the way visitors move around and view the pieces in the museum.
A fantastic piece of architecture, the Bardo is sure to only attract more and more visitors with more coverage on review and news sites, travel blogs and social media, as well as traditional word of mouth – if you’re enticed by what you’ve read, you can book your African holidays with Mahlatini.com.
