Sidi Abid ElGharieni

The construction of this zaouïa, begun during the second half of the fourteenth century, is due to the initiative of an eminent Kairouan jurisconsult, Al-Jadidi, who died during his pilgrimage to Mecca around 786 AH (i.e. in 1384). . His work is continued by his disciple, Abou Samir Abid el Ghariani, who makes the mausoleum a place where he provides his teaching for twenty years. When he died in 1402, he was buried in the building that now bears his name. Subsequently, the monument underwent several alterations and arrangements, mainly during the seventeenth century.

The building, of irregular plan, consists of a ground floor and a second floor; it includes three courses. Access is via a door, inscribed in a pointed horseshoe arch resting on two columns, which opens onto an angled vestibule covered with a wooden step ceiling decorated with geometric and floral motifs in the Hispanic style. Maghreb.

This vestibule leads to a square courtyard, surrounded by four porticoes with two-tone arches and walls decorated with glazed earthenware surmounted by sculpted plaster panels. It presents a pavement dating from the seventeenth century and made of white and black marble drawing geometric interlacing.

The south-eastern portico precedes the prayer hall closed by a wooden door with two leaves, also dating from the 17th century. The room, almost rectangular in plan, has three bays and three naves arranged parallel to the wall of the qibla. The latter houses the mihrab in its center, the niche of which, topped with a dome-shaped vault, is adorned with a pointed arch with marble keystones, alternately black and white, resting on two columns with hafsid capitals.

The northeast portico opens the access to the mausoleum which houses the tomb of Sidi Abid as well as that of the Hafsid sovereign Abû `Abd Allâh Muhammad al-Hasan. The walls are lined with ceramics topped with chiseled plaster panels while the step ceiling is made of painted wood, adorned with patterns resembling the decor of Moroccan ceilings from the Alawite period (17th century). The main courtyard also communicates with two other smaller patios, probably added during one of the building's expansion stages.

The Sidi Abid el Ghariani mausoleum, restored in the 1970s, now houses the headquarters of the association for the safeguard of the Kairouan medina.

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