This is certainly one of the most unusual places in Kairouan and even in Tunisia. The museum was established in a zawiya – mausoleum – built in 1872 and containing the tomb of a very unusual figure : Amor Abada, better known under the respectful name of Sidi Abada.

First the building: it consists of a vast architectural complex crowned with seven ribbed cupolas in a style, known to Kairouan for a thousand years although, cupolas were never used in such great numbers. This explains the monument’s singular aspect, and gives it an appearance of great solemnity.

Now the content: a large room in the building contains objects that belonged to Sidi Abada or that he made himself. The guide says : “These objects were completely dysfunctional, they are giant sized…giant anchors intended, it is said, to protect Kairouan and keep it anchored to the country, very heavy swords, a colossal pipe, very heave bronze pestles… All these items bear engraved inscriptions.. they tell the life story of the man himself”.

It must be said that the man was equally strange “out of the ordinary, enigmatic, a surprising strength of character and faith, excessive in power and grandeur…both venerated and feared”.

Sidi Amor Abada was a master blacksmith, possessed by a mystic drive and troubled by the state of decay in which the country had fallen just before the French colonial expedition (April-May 1881). He expressed his anguish and fantasies through his extravagant creations.