The Mosque of the Three Doors is a small and largely unremarkable mosque from the outside — except for its facade, which is among the most important pieces of Islamic decorative architecture in North Africa. Carved in the 9th century, the three doorways are framed by bands of intricately carved floral ornament and Kufic inscriptions, the whole composition displaying a level of refinement that was extraordinary for its time.
Non-Muslims cannot enter the mosque, but the facade is the point. It faces directly onto a medina lane and can be studied closely at any time. The quality of the carving — precise, inventive, alive — rewards close attention. It is one of the oldest surviving examples of this kind of mosque facade decoration in the Islamic world and far less visited than it deserves to be.