Bourguiba Mausoleum

The Bourguiba Mausoleum stands at the end of the Avenue Bourguiba, the main street through the old city, topped by twin octagonal minarets and a gilded dome that marks it as a building of significance long before you reach the entrance. Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia's founding president and a native of Monastir, is buried here along with members of his family.

The mausoleum is open to non-Muslim visitors, though modest dress is expected and shoes must be removed. The interior is decorated with Italian marble, Venetian glass chandeliers, and elaborate tilework — an interesting mix of influences that reflects Bourguiba's own secular, modernising vision for Tunisia. The surrounding gardens and the mosque of Bourguiba nearby are worth including in the same walk through the old medina.

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A story
Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia's first president, was born in Monastir in 1903 and ruled the country for 31 years until he was deposed in a 1987 "medical coup" by his prime minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who declared Bourguiba unfit to govern due to senility. Bourguiba spent his final years under house arrest and died in 2000. He was brought home to Monastir for burial, and his mausoleum became a place of quiet rehabilitation — Tunisians who had lived under Ben Ali's subsequent dictatorship remembered Bourguiba's era with a certain nostalgia, however complicated.