A military fort, a university, and finally a mosque. One of the oldest and most beautiful buildings, Al-Zaytuna Mosque, is located in the heart of the city of Tunis, Tunisia.

Enter any of the nine entrances and admire the beauty of the building. The beautiful tracery tower rises to 75 meters. It seems like a lace shawl was thrown over it. It's very beautiful! The minaret tower crowns one of the corners of the mosque. Below there is a huge trapezoidal courtyard framed by arches and columns. There are 184 ancient columns of marble, granite, and porphyry. And they are all lacy. This design gives the building airiness, makes it light.  First, Islam is being returned to the earth, and, secondly, the interior. Islamic culture surprises with its interior decoration. You are already admiring the appearance, although you have not seen yet the prayer hall and the galleries.

When you go inside, you realize that everything was very modest outside. There are so many bright carpets, huge chandeliers, gilded columns that you don't know what to focus your eyes on. The huge prayer hall is very richly decorated. 2,000 people can pray there at the same time.

Get ready to walk a lot. The mosque is the oldest in Tunisia and one of the largest. It covers an area of ​​5000 square meters. The architects were inspired by the beautiful buildings in Córdoba and Kairouan. Moreover, Al-Zaytuna is one of the oldest mosques. It was built approximately in the 10th century.

During the foreign conquests, the minaret tower served as an observation post. Then there was a religious university. In this richly decorated building, many workers of history and literature acquired knowledge. Students from all over the world have studied and are still studying at the university. Do not be surprised if you see a group of young people with glowing eyes gathering in the gallery and enthusiastically listening to an old man.

The mosque is still functioning. And services are held there. So you can come and pray. Al-Zaytuna is a magical, mysterious, and very beautiful place.