After Kairouan, Raqqada is the second royal city of the IXth century. It lies 10km to the south-west of Kairouan and at present consists of more or less well conserved vestiges inside a park of about twenty hectares in which a presidential palace was built in the 60’s.
The palace has since been converted into a museum and a centre specializing in research on the Islamic civilisation in Tunisia.

The museum entrance room is devoted to the Great Mosque of Kairouan with a splendid wooden model built on a 1/50o scale with a section of the minaret and the nave, thus enabling visitors to discover the architectural particularities that a necessarily short visit could not provide. Opposite the model is a copy of the mosque’s mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca)

This room is followed by what is known as the ceramics room where a large collection of ceramic objects is displayed dating from the Aghlabid (IXth century) and Fatimid (Xth century) periods, essentially from the sites of Raqqada and Sabra (not far from Kairouan).

The next room is the coins room with a very important collection of coins covering the economic history of Ifriqiya over more than six centuries.

The finest room of the museum is the one with a cupola and a very elaborate ornamentation, stained glass windows and a view over the park. Precious glass, lead and bronze objects are exhibited in this room.

The Korans’ room contains leaves of the Koran on parchment. The diversity of forms, the elegance of the different styles of calligraphy, the extreme richness of their ornamentation make of this collection an invaluable treasure.