The city of Mahdia

The city of Mahdia is located 200 km from the capital Tunis, it is a coastal city which has experienced a real tourist boom in recent decades.

Thts city was first a Phoenician then Roman counter under the name of Aphrodisium. The Fatimids founded it in 920 to make it the capital of their caliphate. The founding Caliph, Abdoullah-El-Mehdi (909-934) who, after the fall of the Aghlabids (909), changed the center of power, had chosen it for its strategic location. Hilalians, Christians, Spaniards and Turks occupied or liberated the city in turn. It was the Spaniards who destroyed its ramparts and set the city to fire and sword, in 1555. After this date the City had lost its military and commercial importance, especially under Turkish and Husseinite domination.

City with a glorious past, Mahdia was the first capital of the Fatimid caliphs in the 10th century, is built on the rock face on a peninsula. It draws all its charm from its crystalline sea in the color of sapphire, from its magnificent fine sandy beaches, from its Medina and from its animation of a small traditional town, town of fishermen and silk weavers. The Mediterranean Sea peacefully rocks the ships of the port of Mahdia, while the inhabitants abandon themselves to the rays of the sun at the beach. The long coast of golden sand attracts many tourists every year who come to relax in its many luxurious hotels.

Today, Mahdia mainly plays a tourist role. Its hotels and the beauty of its coast make it an attraction for many tourists who seek calm and the possibility of visiting vestiges dating from Roman times until the arrival of the Arabs. Mahdia has the special charm of maritime cities. Its fishing port, one of the most important in Tunisia, specializes in particular in fishing by the light of the lumparos which create, on summer evenings, when the trawlers depart, a fascinating spectacle, illuminating the sea and the port. of Mahdia by a thousand candles.

Scuba diving enthusiasts will be enthusiastic about the funds of Mahdia, while dreaming of the famous archaeological wreck once explored by Commander Cousteau.

The city of Mahdia then contained, in addition to the palace of the prince, the Great Mosque, the Administration and the shops of the craftsmen (weavers, ironworkers, jewellers), who lived in a suburb on the mainland. Mahdia experienced a remarkable intellectual and artistic life. But the Fatimids, weakened by revolts and internal uprisings, chose to flee to Egypt and found Cairo there in 973. The city of Mahdia was the scene of epics with the incursions of the Normans of Sicily, the Genoese, the Knights of Malta then of the Spaniards, before finding stability. A successive repopulation of Andalusians, Anatolians and Sicilian fishermen made it a city rich in cultures and traditions.