Kairouan

Founded in 670 as a base for the Arab conquest of Ifriqiya, Kairouan grew into one of the great cities of the Islamic west. Under the Aghlabids in the ninth century it was a seat of power and learning, and its Great Mosque, with a vast courtyard and columns taken from older buildings, became a model for religious architecture across the Maghreb. The arrival of the Banu Hilal in the eleventh century brought devastation, and al-Idrisi saw only ruins and a partial earthen wall.

The city began to recover under the Hafsids, who repaired the Great Mosque in 1248 and again in 1293–94. In April 1348 the Marinid sultan Abu al-Hasan, who had tried to impose his authority on the Arab tribes of Ifriqiya, was defeated by them near Kairouan. In 1558 the corsair Dragut entered the city, and in 1618 the Muradid beys restored the mosque. The French naturalist Peyssonnel, who visited in 1724, noted the mosque's reputation as a centre of religious and secular study, and Thomas Shaw, who came in 1727, thought it the most beautiful and most sacred in the Berber lands. Under the Husainid beys of Tunis Kairouan found an honoured place again.