Great Mosque of Sfax

This ninth-century mosque anchors the walled medina of Sfax, one of the best preserved in the country. Founded under the Aghlabid dynasty, it has been enlarged and refined over the centuries, and its decorated minaret rises in tiers of carved stone above the surrounding market lanes. The prayer hall of arcaded columns opens onto a courtyard at the town's historic core. Surrounded by souks and hemmed in by the medieval ramparts, the mosque remains the spiritual and geographic centre of a proud coastal trading city.