A European donation to Tunisia of 12 million euros, 94 projects by architects from 31 different countries, from Japan to Argentina: the titanic renovation of the national museum of Carthage, classified by Unesco, is the subject of an exhibition until October. “At the start of the project in 2019, it was only planned to renovate two rooms for 3.5 million euros, but an analysis showed that it was impossible without touching the rest of the buildings”, explained Tuesday Ghada Jellali, architect responsible for the Carthage project.
Now, the envelope has climbed to 12 million euros, to which are added other foreign funding to develop tourism and crafts on the ancient acropolis of Byrsa, in the northern suburbs of Tunis. The rich collection of the museum intends to present more than 100,000 pieces dating from the Punic period to the 20th century, passing through the Vandal and Byzantine period.
However, the site, on which ancient remains and the cenotaph of Saint Louis, who died of the plague in Carthage in 1270, during the Eighth Crusade, are scattered in the open air, will remain accessible with its panoramic view of the Bay of Tunis. during the works due to start in June 2025. To make art lovers wait, a first temporary exhibition allows you to admire a dozen mosaics and immerse yourself in the renovated museum project, entrusted to the architects of the German firm Bez Kock Architekten.
The latter are the winners of the “very first international architecture competition ever organized in Tunisia”, welcomes Ghada Jellali. They were chosen on the basis of anonymous applications by a jury of 10 architects of eight different nationalities. The 93 other projects not selected are displayed on panels accessible to the informed eye and the general public, alternating with explanatory videos.
The winners “discovered the site at the awards ceremony. They built their project like many others with drone images that we show at the start of the exhibition”, underlines Pauline Lecointe of Expertise France, coordinator of the technical implementation. The Bez Kock project preserves the former seminary dating from 1885 of the White Fathers – a congregation of Catholic missionaries in Africa -, the majestic Saint-Louis Cathedral (1890) deconsecrated at independence, and the hall of Father Delattre, the archaeologist who discovered the site of Carthage.
On the other hand, the site will be “cleaned of buildings from the 1990s devoid of historical interest and in an advanced state of disrepair”, underlines Pauline Lecointe. At the end of the project, the museum will have three times more exhibition space (2,200 m2) than before, a restaurant and fully refurbished outdoor spaces.
