I évasion visite guidée I fly away guided tour I لنتحـ ّلق زيـارة برفقة دليـل
Zaghouan,
on the water
route
Located about fifty
km away from Tunis,
Zaghouan has numerous
cultural assets. The
city bears witness to
several centuries of
history through its
ecological richness and
its sumptuous Roman
vestiges. Overlooking a
vast agricultural plain, it
is also world-renowned
for its sources, its
hammams and its rose
water.
2
Oudna
Wandering through the underground
suspended at about twenty metres high,
name
maze of galleries, we discover the long
are spectacular. There are also some
of the ancient Uthina, is a Tunisian
subterranean tunnels through which
vestiges of the aqueduct in Tunis (Bab
archaeological site located on the route
animals where led to the arena. We
Saadoun) and in Carthage. The water was
to Zaghouan. Partially explored during
can also see remnants of frescoes.
collected in huge cisterns in La Maalga,
the 19th century, the excavations were
Every summer, the amphitheatre hosts
which fed the Baths of Antoninus.
resumed on the site in 1993 and an
concerts, plays and film projections.
Oudna,
the
contemporary
The Water Temple
opening to the public was organised
1 : Le temple des eaux,
source de l’aqueduc
de Zaghouan I The
Water Temple, source of
Zaghouan’s aqueduct I
مصدر مياه حنايا،معبد المياه
I زغوان
2 : Le grand bassin du
Temple des eaux I The
large basin of the Water
Temple I
I
in 1999. Installed on a small hill, the
Zaghouan aqueduct
Built at the same time as Zaghouan
site’s natural setting is truly magnificent
The road from Tunis to Zaghouan follows
aqueduct, the Water Temple is a
with a panoramic view over the Djebel
the beautiful Roman aqueduct, partly
beautiful collecting basin shaped in the
Ressas, the Jebel Boukornine, the Jebel
restored and 132 km long. It reminds
form of a hemicycle. It was the starting
Zaghouan and the Roman aqueduct
that Tunis, since ancient times, drinks
point of the aqueduct that used to carry
linking Zaghouan to Carthage. On a
the spring water from the mountain
water to Carthage. Inexhaustible source,
clear day, we can even see Sidi Bou
overlooking Zaghouan. Built under the
its architecture is, as of today, one of the
Saïd and the sea. The ancient city of
reign of Emperor Hadrian in 122 to
most beautiful and best preserved. Its
Oudna experienced its “golden age“
transport the water, its source sprang
12 niches used to contain statues of
during the two first centuries after Christ.
from a temple erected in honour of the
divinities such as Neptune. Since then,
The site’s main monuments, cleared
Emperor and called Water Temple of
they are exhibited at the Bardo National
and restored thanks to the excavation
which magnificent remnants remain to this
Museum. Major city in Tunisia for its
campaigns, are really impressive. The
day. It is possible to see the aqueduct in
impressive Roman vestiges, it is also
amphitheatre, set against the slopes
many places across the region. Therefore,
known for it sources and its rose water.
of a hill and half-buried, could seat up
from the Water Temple, we can easily
The rosehip, botanical ancestor of the
to 15000 spectators, which gives it a
see its starting point and its path across
rose, was cultivated by the Andalusian
rank of 3rd after Carthage and El Jem.
the plain. The archways, still visible,
Muslims chased out of Spain. I
الحوض الكبير لمعبد المياه
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