Tunisia: Testour
Testour is an ancient town about 100km inland from Tunis founded by Romans as Tichilla. It was mostly abandoned through the centuries until the 1600s when thousands of Muslims and Jews came and settled here having fled the Spanish Inquisition in Andalusia. Most of the town’s layout and architecture is Andalusian in character, with whitewashed buildings and grid layout. The center of town is a 17th century Grand Mosque with a towering minaret built from old Roman structures and materials. The mosque is unique in that at the top of its minaret’s four sides there are 2 Islamic symbols and 2 Jewish Stars of David that represented the mixed community of Testour – a symbol of tolerance and co-existence.
