Arab-Islamic Heritage in Spectacle: Medina of Tunis, Experiment of Colonial Project and Decolonization

Before being classified as World Heritage in 1979 by UNESCO, the medina of Tunis had to undergo the modernization plan of three consecutive powers: Ottoman, French colonial, and independent. Each, according to its perception of modernity, has made the Arab-Islamic heritage an instrument of its official propaganda that widely influenced both its conservation and the architectural production in the short, medium and long terms. This communication aims to show the role played by this spectacularization of the Tunisian Ottoman heritage in the politico-economic projects of French colonizers between 1881 and 1956, then of the independent Government from 1956 to 1987. It will take into account the effects of this manipulation on the definition of Muslim heritage and contemporary architectural production. It should be noted that in both cases, the spectacularization has supplanted the essence of the medina as a social-urban structure and a vernacular lesson. It has largely distanced the heritage from its original meaning and culminated in the exteriorization of ornament and its unbridled consumption for a purely aesthetic purpose.