Construction of Kairouan

Kairouan is a city in central Tunisia, founded in about 670 by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi as a military base for the Muslim conquest of North Africa. It served as the capital of the province of Ifriqiya and became a leading centre of Islamic learning and religion in the western Mediterranean. Its Great Mosque, also called the Mosque of Uqba, is among the oldest in the Islamic world, and its minaret is among the earliest surviving ones. Kairouan flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the ninth century. It lost its role as capital in the eleventh century after the Hilalian invasions, and it remains an important pilgrimage destination, often counted as the fourth holiest city of Islam by tradition. The old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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