Day 2, Bardo

This baptistry was the first thing displayed as we entered the Bardo Museum. A few facts about the Bardo:

"The outside comes first: it’s a seventeenth century palace, built on the site of a thirteenth century palace, and it was long known as the Bardo Palace, an official Husseinite residence. It’s an impressive building, but don’t spend too long admiring it from the outside: the artifacts that have graced the rooms inside since it becamse a museum in 1888 are just as worthy of your time.

The exhibition is arranged approximately by era, starting with the Prehistoric display – including artifacts up to 40,000 years old from the area. The Punic era exhibit focuses on the time of Hannibal, and masks, amulets and jewelry of the time can be seen. By far the most beautiful part of the museum starts in the Roman section, with grand mosaics adorning huge walls – plenty of fodder for the camera. Many of these mosaics are from nearby Carthage. A slightly different form of mosaics form the Christian era, and finally the Muslim display includes a self-contained Islamic museum room depicting daily life from a few centuries ago.

Read more at Suite101: Visit the Bardo Museum in Tunis: Ancient Roman mosaics and architecture in Tunisia’s capital http://tunisia-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/visit_the_bardo_museum_in_tunis#ixzz0qGHhEbJO "

Unfortunately, the museum is under construction and we were only able to visit a small portion of the collection. However, that small portion was quite impressive. This first room that we entered (should have been the way out) was filled with Christian artifacts from the Roman era. It was surprising to see so many of these items. The Roman history in this region greatly influenced the development of the culture but this museum really began that interest for me. How did it shift and change over time? As the balance of power in North Africa shifted from Roman, to Christian, to Jewish, to Muslim the people shifted as well.

This is Tanit. I don't know why but I love her. She is a Punic symbol, Carthaginian, pre-Roman. In fact, the Punic/Carthaginian history was the most intriguing for me. Perhaps, because it is so very old. A bit of history (from Wikipedia):

"The Carthaginian Empire was a monarchy and later a republic of Phoenician city-states throughout North Africa and modern Spain which lasted from about 650 BC (independence from its metropoly Tyre) until 146 BC. It was more or less under the control of the city-state of Carthage after the fall of Tyre to Babylonian forces. At the height of the city's influence, it held a hegemony over most of the western Mediterranean. The empire was in a constant state of struggle with the Roman Republic, which led to a series of conflicts known as the Punic Wars. After the third and final Punic War, Carthage was destroyed then occupied by Roman forces. Nearly all of the empire fell into Roman hands from then on."

Tanit was a symbol used in pagan rituals and to adorn homes etc. She served many purposes, one of which was the goddess of Carthage. Her shape did not evolve and we found her plentifully available in Tunis.

This guy is Emperor Lucius Verus, 161 to 169 A.D. There are a lot of Roman heads. The reason for this is that it was cheaper to change the head of the statue as the ruler changed rather than the whole thing. Hence, lots of headless statues, and of course, their disembodied heads.
This is one sample of the architecture. The carvings in the palaces were absolutely beautiful. Ornate but not ostentatious, I loved the simplicity and decoration. The stucco is almost always decorated in some way. Never left plain. However, the patterns are repeated everywhere. There was very little variety in the shapes and designs of the tiles and carvings. One reason for this is that Islam (along with certain brands of Christianity) does not approve of the depicting of faces, people and holy things. This, in turn, led to a sort of generic architecture and decoration that is found all over the place. Typically, trees, birds, etc and geometric and floral patterns.
So, this post begins my inclusion of stuff about the people with me on the trip. This is Dr. Spencer my fearless professor. I grew to really respect and admire her on this trip. I liked her before hand but found her to be relaxed, approachable and with an interesting innocence and thirst for adventure. I asked her when she would stop doing these types of trips and she said "when I'm dead" She kept up with the walking, hiking, heat and people better than all of her younger counterparts. Her optimism and acceptance was infectious. I found myself intrigued by her story. She told us about her five children. How she had found herself a single mom, trying to provide and not receiving equal pay for equal work. She has guts this lady. I was impressed with how she handled issues and how she did not take personally the behavior of some of the students (partying and such), she did not judge them even if she did not approve. I have to say I hope I have as much spunk when I'm her age. I hope that I can lead students to do things that take guts. She was not knowledgeable about Tunisia, or the history. Not like the guide. But she took us anyway. I felt like we were in good hands and lucky to have gone with her.