Staff Report, "Nafta’s old town gets facelift" - Tunisia Online News - Tunis, TunisiaWednesday, December 10, 2008
Located some 400 kilometres from the capital and 25 kilometres from Tozeur, the oasis town of Nafta (see photo), also known as the “Land of the Palms”, is often alluded to as the “Kairouan of the South” because of the town’s mystical, Sufi ancestry.
Nowadays, the town which sits north of the Chott El Djerid’s vast salt plain, is a must see for the many tourists who are attracted by the great Tunisian south. Among its many attractions is the town’s typical architecture, made of round headed arches designed to protect the traveller from the sun and its colored hand made bricks, as well as the multi-purpose palm tree wood, which is used to make doors and partitions.
In order to give back to the old town some of its ancient lustre, the town’s municipality has launched a major rehabilitation campaign, destined to give a facelift to the house facades, lighten the streets, asphalt the town’s main thoroughfares and replace metal doors and gates, with wooden doors, made from palm trees.
The project is spearheaded by the Tunisian School of architecture and urbanism and the Italian University of Reggio Calabria, whose contribution has centred on the promotion of local resources, and the training of craftsmen and technicians, to enable them to take part in the protection of the town’s architectural heritage.
The town which boasts well known museums such as Dar Houidi and the Museum of Arab and Berber traditions, is also home to a Folk and Date festival, traditionally held in December.
The town’s history is as rich as its heritage, claiming its ancestry back, respectively to the old Egyptian Kingdom of Napata (900 to 400 BC), the Byzantines, and the Arabs who used it as a major caravan outpost.
Located some 400 kilometres from the capital and 25 kilometres from Tozeur, the oasis town of Nafta (see photo), also known as the “Land of the Palms”, is often alluded to as the “Kairouan of the South” because of the town’s mystical, Sufi ancestry.
Nowadays, the town which sits north of the Chott El Djerid’s vast salt plain, is a must see for the many tourists who are attracted by the great Tunisian south. Among its many attractions is the town’s typical architecture, made of round headed arches designed to protect the traveller from the sun and its colored hand made bricks, as well as the multi-purpose palm tree wood, which is used to make doors and partitions.
In order to give back to the old town some of its ancient lustre, the town’s municipality has launched a major rehabilitation campaign, destined to give a facelift to the house facades, lighten the streets, asphalt the town’s main thoroughfares and replace metal doors and gates, with wooden doors, made from palm trees.
The project is spearheaded by the Tunisian School of architecture and urbanism and the Italian University of Reggio Calabria, whose contribution has centred on the promotion of local resources, and the training of craftsmen and technicians, to enable them to take part in the protection of the town’s architectural heritage.
The town which boasts well known museums such as Dar Houidi and the Museum of Arab and Berber traditions, is also home to a Folk and Date festival, traditionally held in December.
The town’s history is as rich as its heritage, claiming its ancestry back, respectively to the old Egyptian Kingdom of Napata (900 to 400 BC), the Byzantines, and the Arabs who used it as a major caravan outpost.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment