Founded in 670, Kairouan flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century. Despite the transfer of the political capital to Tunis in the 12th century, Kairouan remained the Maghreb's principal holy city. Its rich architectural heritage includes the Great Mosque, with its marble and porphyry columns, and the 9th-century Mosque of the Three Gates.

Brief synthesis Located in the centre of Tunisia in a plain at an almost equal distance from the sea and the mountain, Kairouan is the most ancient Arabo-Muslim base of the Maghreb (670 AD) and one of its principal holy cities. Capital of Ifriqiya for five centuries, it was a place of outstanding diffusion of Arabo-Muslim civilisation. Kairouan bears unique witness to the first centuries of this civilisation and its architectural and urban development. The inscribed site is a serial property that includes the medina and its suburbs, the Basins of the Aghlabids and the Zawiya of Sidi Sahib. The medina (54 ha) and its suburbs (20 ha) are an urban ensemble presenting all the components of an Arabo-Muslim town. The medina comprises juxtaposed dwellings divided into quarters separated by narrow and winding streets; it is surrounded by ramparts that extend over more than three kilometres. The layout of the suburbs is straighter and the houses have a more rural aspect. The medina contains some remarkable monuments including the Great Mosque, an architectural masterpiece that served as a model for several other Maghreban mosques, the Mosque of the Three Doors that represents the most ancient existent sculpted facade of Muslim art. The Basins of the Aghlabids, an open-air reservoir formed by two communicating cisterns that date back to the 9th century, constitute one of the most beautiful hydraulic ensembles conceived to provide water to the town. The Zawiya of Sidi Sahib shelters the remains of the companion of Mahomet, Abou Zama El-Balawi. Criterion (i): The Great Mosque, rebuilt in the 9th century, is not only one of the major monuments of Islam but also a universal architectural masterpiece. The many but small changes in it have not altered the layout of this place of prayer, which forms a quadrilateral of 135 m by 80 m. At its southern end is a hypostyle prayer room with 17 naves supported by a « forest » of columns in marble and porphyry. On the north is a vast…