The Prado of North Africa

Roman mosaics preserved in situ are a rare delight—most are typically uprooted and whisked away to the hushed, climate-controlled corridors of museums for the sake of their longevity. This was the fate of Zeugma, whose treasures now reside in Gaziantep, and a similar path was taken in Carthage, where they were spirited away to the Bardo Museum.

Not Brigitte, but a Spanish meadow

Pray, do not seek a connection to Brigitte Bardot, nor indeed to any other notable souls bearing that surname. The museum was established in 1888 as the Alaoui Museum—named for the reigning Bey of Tunis, who graciously surrendered one of his palaces for the cause—and was subsequently renamed after the suburb in which it resides, following the nation’s achievement of independence.

The name of the district, Bardo, found its way into Arabic from the Spanish prado, meaning “meadow,” which renders the Bardo Museum in Tunis a distant, albeit North African, cousin to the celebrated Prado in Madrid. And the Spanish term, naturally, descends from the Latin pratum—a root which, through various linguistic wanderings, also blossomed into the French prairie.

The second treasure trove of Africa

The Bardo Museum is a truly sublime establishment. One finds vast halls and intimate chambers alike, all paved and adorned with Roman mosaics—as if the floor itself were a canvas for an ancient, pedantic architect. The museum’s collection is among the most extensive in the world, and it stands as the second-largest archaeological repository in Africa, trailing only the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.