Landmark Africa
Great Mosque of Kairouan
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is a very old mosque in Tunisia. It has a tall square tower and a forest of columns!
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is in the old city of Kairouan, in Tunisia. It was rebuilt in the 800s. It has a square minaret three stories high, a wide stone courtyard and a prayer hall full of columns. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 1988.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan, rebuilt by Aghlabid rulers in 836 and again in 862-863, forms a quadrilateral of 135 m by 80 m with a hypostyle prayer hall, a flagstone courtyard and a massive three-story minaret. UNESCO calls it a universal architectural masterpiece and says it served as a model for several other mosques of the Maghreb.
Photo: weetoon66, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Great Mosque
The Great Mosque is in Kairouan, a city in Tunisia. Tunisia is a country in North Africa.
The mosque has thick walls, a wide courtyard and a tall square tower.
The Great Mosque stands inside the medina, the old walled city, of Kairouan in Tunisia. UNESCO says Kairouan lies on a plain about halfway between the sea and the mountains.
The mosque covers an area 135 meters long and 80 meters wide. Many small changes have been made to it, but UNESCO says they have not changed its layout.
The Great Mosque stands in the medina of Kairouan, in central Tunisia, which UNESCO describes as lying in a plain at an almost equal distance from the sea and the mountains. The mosque forms a quadrilateral of 135 m by 80 m.
UNESCO and ICOMOS both note that the many but small changes made to the building have not altered its layout. The mosque is one of the monuments of the Kairouan World Heritage Site, listed in 1988.
- Where
- Kairouan, Tunisia
- Size
- 135 m by 80 m
- Prayer hall
- 17 naves
- World Heritage Site
- 1988 (Kairouan)
Rebuilt in the 800s
The city of Kairouan was founded in the year 670.
Rulers called the Aghlabids rebuilt the mosque in the 800s.
UNESCO says Kairouan was founded in 670, and calls the Great Mosque the first place of worship founded in the Maghreb. The city was the capital of the region of Ifriqiya for five centuries.
The mosque we see was rebuilt in the 800s. ICOMOS says Emir Ziyadat Allah I rebuilt it in 836, and Emir Abou Ibrahim Ahmad rebuilt it again in 862-863.
ICOMOS records that Oqba Ibn Nafii set up a garrison at al-Kayrawan in 670, and UNESCO calls Kairouan the most ancient Arabo-Muslim base of the Maghreb and the capital of Ifriqiya for five centuries. When the Aghlabid emirs became nearly fully independent (800-909), ICOMOS says, Kairouan became a true capital city.
ICOMOS says the Great Mosque was rebuilt by Emir Ziyadat Allah I in 836 and again in 862-863 by Emir Abou Ibrahim Ahmad. From 1160, ICOMOS adds, Tunis became the real center of political power.
A courtyard and a forest of columns
At one end is the prayer hall. It is full of columns, like a forest!
At the other end is a wide stone courtyard.
At the southern end of the mosque is the prayer hall. It is divided into 17 long aisles, called naves, held up by a 'forest' of columns made of marble and porphyry.
To the north is a wide courtyard paved with flagstones and lined with covered walkways. In the middle of the courtyard's short northern side stands the minaret.
UNESCO describes the plan: at the southern end, a hypostyle prayer room with 17 naves supported by a 'forest' of columns in marble and porphyry; on the north, a vast flagstone courtyard bordered with porticoes.
The courtyard is interrupted in the middle of its smaller northern end by the massive square-shaped minaret, three stories high. A hypostyle hall is one whose roof rests on many rows of columns.
A model for other mosques
Builders of other mosques in North Africa copied ideas from this one.
Its patterns and decorations were copied most of all.
UNESCO says the Great Mosque served as a model for several other mosques in the Maghreb, especially for its decorations, which it calls unique.
The mosque is not alone. Nearby in Kairouan stands the Mosque of the Three Doors, built in 866, the oldest known mosque with a carved front. The Basins of the Aghlabids, two joined open-air pools from the 800s, held water for the town.
UNESCO calls the Great Mosque not only one of the major monuments of Islam but also a universal architectural masterpiece, and says it served as a model for several Maghreban mosques, particularly for its decorative motifs, which are unique.
Kairouan's other early monuments include the Mosque of the Three Doors (866), the oldest known Islamic mosque with a sculpted facade, and the Basins of the Aghlabids, a 9th-century open-air reservoir of two connected cisterns. ICOMOS says the basin was filled with water brought by a 36 km aqueduct.
- Rebuilt
- 836 and 862–863
- Minaret
- square, three stories
- Columns
- marble and porphyry
- UNESCO criteria
- (i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)
Looking across the mosque
In this photo, the square tower stands on the left. It has a round, ribbed dome on top.
Rows of arches go around the courtyard in the middle.
This photo was taken on 15 April 2010. The square minaret, with notched tops on its lower levels and a ribbed dome at the top, stands on the left. Behind the thick outer walls, rows of arches line the courtyard, and ribbed domes rise on the right.
The mosque stands in a medina of 54 hectares, ringed by walls more than 3 kilometers long.
The photograph (15 April 2010, shared on Flickr by weetoon66) shows the square minaret with crenellated tiers and a ribbed dome at the left, the arcades around the courtyard in the middle, ribbed domes at the right, and the thick outer walls with sloping supports in front.
UNESCO says the medina (54 ha) keeps its winding streets and courtyard houses inside more than 3 km of ramparts. Thirty-six monuments in Kairouan have their own listing as historic monuments, and the National Heritage Institute runs a management unit for the site.
Amazing facts
-
The columns in the prayer hall look like a forest!
UNESCO describes the columns of the prayer hall as a 'forest' of marble and porphyry.
The 17 naves of the hypostyle prayer room rest on what UNESCO calls a 'forest' of columns in marble and porphyry.
-
Water came to old Kairouan through a channel 36 kilometers long!
The Basins of the Aghlabids were filled with water brought through an aqueduct 36 kilometers long.
ICOMOS records that the Basin of the Aghlabids was filled by water brought through a 36 km aqueduct from Djebel Cherichera.
-
A mosque near the Great Mosque has a carved front from the year 866!
Kairouan's Mosque of the Three Doors, built in 866, is the oldest known mosque with a carved front.
The Mosque of the Three Doors (866) is, in UNESCO's words, the oldest known Islamic mosque with a sculpted facade.
Words to know
- mosque
- a building where Muslims gather to pray
- minaret
- a tall tower that is part of a mosque
- nave
- a long aisle inside a large hall, between rows of columns
- portico
- a covered walkway with a roof held up by columns or arches
- porphyry
- a hard stone, often dark red or purple, used for columns and carvings
- medina
- the old walled part of a city in North Africa
Discovery challenge
-
In which country is the Great Mosque of Kairouan?
The Great Mosque stands in Kairouan, in which country?
In which country's central plain does Kairouan lie?
- Tunisia
- Thailand
- Türkiye
Show the answer
Tunisia
Tunisia!
Tunisia.
Tunisia.
-
How many long aisles does the prayer hall have?
How many naves divide the mosque's prayer hall?
How many naves does UNESCO count in the hypostyle prayer room?
- 17
- 7
- 70
Show the answer
17
17!
17.
Seventeen.
-
What is the tall square tower of the mosque called?
What is the name for the mosque's square tower, three stories high?
What stands in the middle of the courtyard's smaller northern end?
- A minaret
- A lighthouse
- A clock tower
Show the answer
A minaret
A minaret!
A minaret.
The massive square-shaped minaret, three stories high.
-
What are the prayer hall's columns made of?
Which two kinds of stone does UNESCO name for the prayer hall's columns?
In which materials does UNESCO describe the prayer room's 'forest' of columns?
- Marble and porphyry
- Wood and clay
- Glass and steel
Show the answer
Marble and porphyry
Marble and porphyry!
Marble and porphyry.
Marble and porphyry.
-
In which year did UNESCO list Kairouan as a World Heritage Site?
When did Kairouan, with its Great Mosque, become a World Heritage Site?
In which year was Kairouan inscribed on the World Heritage List?
- 1988
- 1888
- 2018
Show the answer
1988
1988!
1988.
1988.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe the main parts of a courtyard mosque: courtyard, prayer hall and minaret.
- Explain how one building can become a model for others.
- Explain how an old city stored and brought in its water.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might builders hold up a large roof with many columns instead of a few?
- Why do you think the mosque was rebuilt more than once?
- How could a city of old houses and narrow streets be protected today?
Try at home or in class
- Draw a plan of a rectangle with a courtyard at one end, a hall of columns at the other and a tower in the middle of the courtyard's short side.
- Find Kairouan, Tunis and the coast of Tunisia on a map.
Key vocabulary: mosque, minaret, nave, portico, porphyry, medina
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Kairouan , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Advisory Body Evaluation: Medina of Kairouan, No 499 , ICOMOS / UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- File:Grande Mosquée de Kairouan, vue d'ensemble.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.