Monastir

Monastir stands on a peninsula of the Tunisian coast between Sousse and Mahdia. Its ribat, a fortified religious settlement overlooking the sea, was founded in 796 and enlarged under the Aghlabids. It housed men devoted to prayer and the defense of the coast, and became a place of pilgrimage. The fortress formed part of a chain of coastal strongholds protecting early Islamic Ifriqiya.