To spot the Hammouda Pacha Mosque, just look for the tall, octagon-shaped minaret with a pointy top and green tiles standing above the archways, right along Sidi Ben Arous street.
Now, let’s take you back to the 1600s, when the Medina was buzzing with market sounds and the smell of spices filled the air. Picture a bold leader named Hammouda Bey, strutting through these very streets-not in sneakers, of course, but some pretty fancy shoes for his time. He decided the city needed something special, something awe-inspiring. So, in 1655, he built this mosque, making it only the second mosque in Tunis for the Hanafi community. It quickly became a shining star of Turkish architecture, breaking away from local styles with its dramatic octagonal minaret-imagine drawing eight perfect sides by hand, over 350 years ago! The mosque’s prayer hall is rectangular and filled with sunlight for serene moments of peace. Some say, when the muezzin calls out from that minaret, it echoes with the pride of Hammouda Bey himself. Close your eyes for a second-hear the prayers, feel the cool stone, and maybe try to picture just how grand it felt to walk into a mosque that changed the city skyline. All that, and you don’t even need to be a time traveler… just a good walker!
