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| Established | 7 May 1888 (1888-05-07) |
|---|---|
| Location | Le Bardo,Tunis,Tunisia |
| Type | National museum |
| Collection size | over 150,000 ObjectsPrehistory andProtohistory Libyco-Punic Ancient Egyptian Hellenistic Numidian Roman Early Christianity Vandals Byzantine Islamic Ottoman |
| Visitors | 664,891 (2005) |
| Curator | Moncef Ben Moussa |
| Website | www |
TheBardo National Museum (Arabic:المتحف الوطني بباردو,romanized: el-Metḥef el-Waṭanī bi-Bārdū;French:Musée national du Bardo) orBardo Palace is an arts and North African historymuseum inLe Bardo,Tunisia. It is one of the most important museums inthe Mediterranean region and the second largest museum inAfrica after theEgyptian Museum of Cairo.[1] It traces thehistory of Tunisia over several millennia and across severalcivilizations through a wide variety ofarchaeological pieces.
First proposed in the 1860s byMuhammad Khaznadar, the son of thePrime Minister of Tunisia,[2] the museum has been housed in an oldbeylical palace since 1888. Originally called the Alaoui Museum (Arabic:المتحف العلوي,romanized: al-Matḥaf al-ʿAlawī), named after thereigning bey at the time, it was renamed as the Bardo Museum after theindependence of the country.
The museum houses one of the largest collections of Roman mosaics in the world, thanks to excavations in various archaeological sites in the country includingCarthage,Hadrumetum,Dougga andUtica. The mosaics, such as theVirgil Mosaic, represent a major source for research on everyday life inRoman Africa. From the Roman era, the museum also contains a rich collection of marble statues representing the deities and the Roman emperors found on different sites including those of Carthage andThuburbo Majus.
The museum also houses pieces discovered during the excavations ofLibyco-Punic sites including Carthage, although theNational Museum of Carthage is the primary museum of the Carthage archaeological site. The essential pieces of this department are grimacing masks,terracotta statues andstelae of major interest forSemiticepigraphy, and the stele of the priest and the child. The museum also housesGreek works discovered especially in the excavations of theshipwreck of Mahdia, whose emblematic piece remains the bust ofAphrodite in marble,[not verified in body] gnawed by the sea.
On 18 March 2015, an Islamist terrorist groupattacked the museum and took tourists hostage in the building. Responsibility for the attack, which killed 22 people including 21 foreign tourists, was claimed by theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The Bardo National Museum building was originally a 15th-centuryHafsid palace, located in the suburbs ofTunis.
The Bardo is one of the most important museums of theMediterranean basin, and the second largest on the African continent after theEgyptian Museum. It traces the history ofTunisia over several millennia and through many civilizations through a wide variety of archaeological pieces. Being in the former palace, it offers many major works discovered since the beginnings of archaeological research in the country. Originally called Museum Alaoui (المتحف العلوي), the name of the reigning bey at the time, it has had its current name of Museum of Bardo only since the country's independence.
In addition to famous works such as theBlue Koran ofKairouan, the Islamic Department contains a collection ofceramics fromNorth Africa andAsia Minor.
The Bardo brings together one of the finest and largest collections of Romanmosaics in the world thanks to the excavations undertaken from the beginning of the 20th century on archaeological sites in the country includingCarthage,Hadrumetum,Dougga, orUtica. The mosaics represent a unique source for research on everyday life inRoman Africa. The museum also contains a rich collection of marble statues representing the gods andRoman emperors found on various sites including those of Carthage andThuburbo Majus.
The Bardo has also rich pieces discovered during the excavations of Libyco-Punic sites including mainlyCarthage, although theCarthage National Museum also possesses an important collection. The main parts of this department are grimacing masks, terracotta statues and stelae of major interest for the Semitic epigraphy, the stele of the priest and the child being the most famous. The museum also housesGreek works discovered in particular in the excavations of the ship of Mahdia, whose iconic piece[according to whom?] is a marble bust of Aphrodite.[attribution needed]
The museum underwent a major refurbishment, completed in 2012, that was interrupted due to theTunisian revolution. The expansion, which added 9,000 square meters to the complex, was designed by SCPA Codou-Hindley (France) and Amira Nouira (Tunisia). Considerable funding came from theWorld Bank.[3]
It contains a major collection ofRoman mosaics and other antiquities of interest fromAncient Greece,Carthage,Tunisia, and theIslamic period.
Themuseum displays objects ranging from pre-historical artifacts to modernjewelry.
On 18 March 2015, 24 people were killed in aterrorist attack[4][5] when three terrorists in civil uniform attacked the museum and took hostages.[6] Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, while an additional victim died ten days later. Around fifty others were injured. Two of the gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police, while the third attacker escaped.[7] It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Tunisian history; surpassing the 2002Ghriba synagogue bombing, which killed nineteen people and injured more than thirty others, most of whom were also European tourists.[8][9]
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Starting from June 17, 2014, the museum offers visitors a digital guide inEnglish,French, andArabic.[10] Developed byOrange Tunisia usingNear-field communication technology, it comes in the form of a free downloadableapplication forsmartphones and visitors can also borrow a free smartphone at the museum entrance.[10] It offers audio commentaries, photo slideshows, and a historical and geographical perspective of the displayed works.[10]
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