Bardo National Museum

Bardo National Museum

The Bardo National Museum is located in the northwest suburbs of Tunisia's capital. Construction began in 1882, and the museum was completed in 1888. It is the world’s second richest museum in mosaics after Cairo and the second largest museum in Africa. The museum has over 40 halls and corridors, with tens of thousands of exhibits gathered from nearly 100 ancient sites across the country. The oldest items date back to prehistoric times, but the museum is most renowned for its splendid mosaics from various historical periods of Tunisia.

Mosaics were first created in Mesopotamia, Iraq, using materials such as baked clay, clay blocks, pebbles, and shells. They are referred to as “murals that can’t be washed away” and “carpets that can’t be worn out.” This form of permanent art was brought to North Africa by the Phoenicians, adorning the walls and floors of palaces, temples, and baths in Carthage. Later, successive rulers of Carthage, as well as Arab Tunisians, inherited and developed this craft, expanding the materials used to include colored stones, jasper, lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, coral, and colored glass, resulting in increasingly vibrant colors.

As a result, Tunisia is hailed as the "Capital of Mosaics." While the buildings of Carthage no longer exist, some of the ground mosaics have miraculously survived. The "Triumph of Neptune" is the world’s largest surviving mosaic, covering an area of 137 square meters and occupying the floor of an exhibition hall. The mosaic depicts the sea god Neptune holding a trident, standing in a chariot drawn by four sea horses, surrounded by 56 attendant nymphs. The "Portrait of Virgil" is crafted from over ten types of colored stones and green glass, showing the poet Virgil sitting on a chair, holding a scroll, while the Muse of History, Clio, recites to him. The Muse of Tragedy listens with deep sorrow — the scene is rendered with striking realism. The museum attracts hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors each year with its rich collection.