The Tunisian Ministry of Culture announced today, Tuesday, that the "Bardo Museum" will soon reopen after being closed for two years since President Kais Saied shut down the parliament sharing the same building. The ministry did not specify an exact date for the reopening of the Bardo National Museum, which houses one of the most stunning collections of ancient Roman mosaics in the world. The statement noted, "It will be opened soon after finishing the renovation work."
The Bardo National Museum is considered the second oldest museum in Africa, after the Egyptian Museum, having been established in 1888. It gained worldwide fame due to its diverse mosaic collections, which are among the richest in the world. On July 25, 2021, President Kais Saied deployed military vehicles to surround the parliament. Both buildings (the parliament and the museum) were closed, and he rewrote the constitution and held elections for a new, much less powerful legislative council.
The museum displays large collections of richly detailed and vividly colored mosaics, including those depicting Neptune, the god of the sea in ancient Roman mythology, hunting scenes, and stunning arrays of marine life. As the home of ancient Carthage and its Punic culture, as well as a major Roman colony that helped supply the empire with food, Tunisia is rich in classical sites and artifacts. The large collections of Bardo mosaics, along with those from other museums in Sousse and El Jem, are derived from the luxurious Roman palaces built during the Roman era and antiquity.
