Ez-Zitouna Mosque

In the middle of the old walled city of Tunis stands a mosque named after a tree: Ez-Zitouna, 'the olive tree'. People say a scholar once taught the Qur'an under an olive tree on this very spot.

The mosque grew into a university. Long before modern schools existed, circles of students sat on mats around a teacher, each circle studying a different subject — Qur'an, medicine, astronomy, poetry, law.

Students came from all over Africa and stayed for years. Some famous thinkers, including the historian Ibn Khaldun, learned here as young men.

The building itself is beautiful and calm: horseshoe arches, a wide courtyard, and a square minaret you can spot from the rooftops of the whole medina.

Today the market streets wrap around the mosque like a busy hug — spice shops, copper lamps, and the smell of fresh bread, with the call to prayer floating above it all.