The Ribat of Monastir (Arabic: رباط المنستير) is a ribat, an Islamic defensive structure, located in Monastir, Tunisia. It is the oldest ribat built by the Arab conquerors during the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. It is also the most prominent monument of the city of Monastir.
Founded in 796 by the Abbasid leader and the governor of Ifriqiya, Harthama ibn A'yan, several improvements and changes were introduced to the building throughout the medieval times, including the expansion carried out by Abu al-Qasim ibn Tammam in 966. Initially it was quadrilateral shaped and then renovated into a composition of four buildings with two inner courtyards. There's also a spiral stair of about a hundred steps leading to the watchtower where visual messages were exchanged at night with the towers of neighboring ribats. Many watchtowers were added between 11th and 13th, 17th and 19th centuries in order to accommodate the artillery. The towers are also climbable, allowing visitors to enjoy a view of the city and the beach.
In addition to the small rooms dedicated to the worshiping Mujahideen who were performing prayer and meditation during their military duty, the ribat has two mosques, the largest of which hosts a unique collection of worshiping materials and traditional medieval industrial materials today.
Monastir, also called Mestir (Arabic: المنستير Monastīr / Mestīr, from the Greek μοναστήριον "hermit's cell, monastery"), is a city on the central coast of Tunisia, in the Sahel area, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Sousse and 162 kilometres (101 miles) south of Tunis. Traditionally a fishing port, Monastir is now a major tourist resort. Its population is about 93,306. It is the capital of Monastir Governorate.
Monastir is a peninsula surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea on three sides and forming, to the south, the Gulf of Monastir of the same name, which extends to Cap of Ras Dimass. It offers diverse landscapes, in particular its sandy and rocky beaches as well as a cliff stretching over nearly six kilometers.
Monastir was founded on the ruins of the Punic–Roman city of Ruspina. The city features a well-preserved Ribat of Monastir that was used to scan the sea for hostile ships and as a defence against the attacks of the Byzantine fleet. Several ulema came to stay in the ribat of this peaceful city for contemplation. The ribat was, in the 1970s, also one of the filming locations for both the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth and Monty Python's Life of Brian. There are panoramic views of the city taken from a French naval intelligence airship in 1924.
The city is on the electrified, metre-gauge Sahel Metro line with trains serving Sousse and Mahdia which the city is served by 5 stations of the metro : Hôtels Monastir, Aéroport Skanès-Monastir, Faculté Monastir, Monastir, Monastir-Zone indistruelle. Monastir – Habib Bourguiba International Airport has flights from most Western European countries. It is run by Tepe Akfen Ventures Airport Holding (TAV).
Monastir has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with hot summers, pleasant winters, much sunshine and low rainfall year-round. The city sits in the northeast of Tunisia, on its central coast. It is milder than inland areas of Tunisia, forty percent of which is part of the Sahara. In the summer, while humidity is low, the soaring heat can still be hard to handle. The average high temperature of 29 °C (84.2 °F) in June skips past the 30 °C (86 °F) mark in the middle of the month and rises to 33 °C (91.4 °F) in July and August.
The industrial sector, tourism and agriculture constituting the main activities of the population : The economy of this region is also based on agriculture. The 86% of land used for agriculture, of which 13,125 ha are public or private irrigated areas. 450 ha are forests against 4,600 ha for rangelands. The livestock production is around 74,500 head (cattle, goats, sheep). Regarding the main agricultural products, the region produces in particular fishery products (23,983 t / year), red meat, poultry, milk, oil and olive. Olive cultivation covers an area of 60,000 ha. Monastir is also making a reputation for the production of vegetable crops (169,702 t / year) and arboriculture (11,297 t). The development of agriculture is favored by the presence of 8 hill lakes and hill dams. The establishment of a dozen aquaculture sites in the lagoon of Monastir also allows the region to engage in the breeding of sea bream and sea bass.
The tourist sector occupies the third occupation of the population with luxury hotels by the sea, golf courses ... the region attracts many foreign tourists. The tourism sector has more than fifty hotel units with a total accommodation capacity of more than 25,440 beds. These hotels provide 9,000 jobs. In addition to the 8th century ribat, the great mosque, the Bourguiba mosque, the museums, the souk, the Kiriates islands, the city also has other assets such as the marina, diving centers, two golf courses. , a racecourse, night clubs etc. Entertainment abounds between fun and sporting activities. For its last 5 decades, it has attracted tourists by the seaside potential of Saknes. It has two hotel units, a museum, a marine district and the marina. There is also the tourist area of Jinène El Oust which has 6 residential units and the Bekalta area which has 6 hotel units and entertainment lots. In addition, the region's transport infrastructure is also one of the determining factors in the growth of this governorate. Indeed, it has an international airport, a train station, and a metro that connects it to Sousse and Mahdia. Buses, taxis, rental vehicles also connect it to these two other governorates.
Nouvelair has its head office in Monastir in the Dkhila Tourist Zone, near the Hôtel Sahara Beach.
Monastir has a museum of Islamic arts, inaugurated on August 5, 1958, and which is housed on the first floor of the south wing of the ribat; it contains nearly 300 works (fragments of wood, funerary stelae, polished ceramics, etc.) and receives the visit of almost 100,000 visitors every year.
The ethnomusicologist and clarinetist Hassine Haj Youssef is one of Monastir's most active personalities in the musical field. A disciple of Salah El Mahdi, he is also the father of the violinist and composer Jasser Haj Youssef. He is a professor at the National Conservatory of Monastir and at the Higher Institute of Music of Sousse. He has adapted the method of Zoltán Kodály to the teaching of Arabic music, he is also the producer of several programs of traditional music and anthropology on Radio Monastir and on national television.
Since 2005, he has devoted his time to composition and research on Sufi music in Tunisia.
The city of Monastir has:
Five Junior High Schools of basic education: Ali-Bourguiba, Moufida-Bourguiba, Imtiez, Salem-Bchir and a pioneer junior high school;
Four High Schools: Fatouma-Bourguiba, Hedi-Khefacha, Bourguiba and a Pioneer high school (open since the school year 2003–2004).
Monastir is also a university city, incorporating the University of Monastir which was founded on September 2, 2004[11] and covers the governorates of Monastir and Mahdia. The university of Monastir includes sixteen faculty departments, of which ten are located in Monastir:
Faculty of science
Faculty of medicine
Faculty of dental medicine
Faculty of pharmacy
The National Engineering School of Monastir
The Higher School of science and technologies of health
The Higher Institutes of Biotechnology
The Higher Institutes Computer Science and Mathematics
The Higher Institutes Fashion Trades
The Preparatory Institute for Engineering Studies
The student population of Monastir exceeded 27,000 in 2007–2008, making the city one of the largest in terms of university studies along with Tunis, Sfax and Sousse.
Monastir is represented by the US Monastir in football and the basketball. In 2022, the US Monastir won the BAL after being the finalist in 2021 BAL season.
The monastirian team plays its matches in the Mustapha Ben Jannet stadium for the football, and the Mohamed-Mzali indoor for the basketball.
Notable people
Tunisian ex-president Habib Bourguiba was born in Monastir, and his mausoleum is located in the city. Many other famous politicians are also from Monastir:
Mohamed Mzali, prime minister of Tunisia from 1980 to 1986
Hedi Amara Nouira, prime minister of Tunisia from 1970 to 1980
Among other notable people:
Amel Majri, footballer for Lyon and the France national team
Jawhar Mnari, footballer, born in Monastir and winner of DFB-Pokal (2006/2007).
Hamza Younés, footballer
Monastir is twinned with:
Tajikistan Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Turkey Manisa, Turkey
Germany Münster, Germany
France Saint-Étienne, France
Morocco Tétouan, Morocco
Algeria Tizi Ouzou, Algeria
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a part of the Maghreb region of North Africa, bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares maritime borders with Italy and Malta to the north and east. It features the archaeological sites of Carthage dating back to the 9th century BC, as well as the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Known for its ancient architecture, souks, and blue coasts, it covers 163,610 km2 (63,170 sq mi), and has a population of 12.1 million. It contains the eastern end of the Atlas Mountains and the northern reaches of the Sahara desert; much of its remaining territory is arable land. Its 1,300 km (810 mi) of coastline includes the African conjunction of the western and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Basin. Tunisia is home to Africa's northernmost point, Cape Angela. Located on the northeastern coast, Tunis is the capital and largest city of the country, which is itself named after Tunis. The official language of Tunisia is Modern Standard Arabic. The vast majority of Tunisia's population is Arab and Muslim. Vernacular Tunisian Arabic is the most spoken, and French also serves as an administrative and educational language in some contexts, but it has no official status.
Beginning in early antiquity, Tunisia was inhabited by the indigenous Berbers. The Phoenicians, a Semitic people, began to arrive in the 12th century BC, settling on the coast and establishing several settlements, of which Carthage emerged as the most powerful by the 7th century BC. The descendants of the Phoenician settlers came to be known as the Punic people. Ancient Carthage was a major mercantile empire and a military rival to the Roman Republic until 146 BC when it was defeated by the Romans who occupied Tunisia for most of the next 800 years. The Romans introduced Christianity and left architectural legacies like the Amphitheatre of El Jem. In the 7th century AD, Arab Muslims conquered all of Tunisia (finally succeeding in 697 after several attempts starting in 647) and settled with their tribes and families, bringing Islam and Arab culture to the local inhabitants. A later large-scale Arab migration of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes in the 11th-12th centuries rapidly accelerated this process. By around the 15th century, the region of modern-day Tunisia had already been almost completely Arabized, establishing Arabs as the demographic majority of the population. Then, in 1546, the Ottoman Empire established control there, holding sway for over 300 years, until 1881, when the French conquered Tunisia. In 1956, Tunisia gained independence as the Tunisian Republic under the leadership of Habib Bourguiba with the help of activists such as Chedly Kallala, Farhat Hached, and Salah Ben Youssef. Today, Tunisia's culture and identity are rooted in this centuries-long intersection of different cultures and ethnicities.
In 2011, the Tunisian Revolution, which was triggered by dissatisfaction with the lack of freedom and democracy under the 24-year rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, overthrew his regime and catalyzed the broader Arab Spring movement across the region. Free multiparty parliamentary elections were held shortly thereafter; the country again voted for parliament on 26 October 2014, and for president on 23 November 2014. From 2014 to 2020, it was considered the only democratic state in the Arab world, according to the Democracy Index (The Economist). After a democratic backsliding, Tunisia is rated a hybrid regime. It is one of the few countries in Africa ranking high on the Human Development Index, with one of the highest per capita incomes on the continent, ranking 129th in GDP per capita income.
Tunisia is well integrated into the international community. It is a member of the United Nations, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Non-Aligned Movement, the International Criminal Court, the Group of 77, among others. It maintains close economic and political relations with some European countries, particularly with France, and Italy, due to their geographical proximity. Tunisia also has an association agreement with the European Union and has attained the status of a major non-NATO ally of the United States.
