The Palace of the Beys, erected after 1782 by Hamuda Bey (p. [336]), contains several objects of interest, apart from its tasteless European furniture and poor pictures. Adm., see p. [331].
We enter by a flight of steps, adorned with marble lions of mediocre Italian workmanship, and through a vestibule with delicate decoration in stucco. The anterior colonnaded court is adjoined on the right by the hall of justice, where the beys used to pronounce sentences of death which were immediately carried out close by; opposite to it is the reception-room. A passage to the left brings us to a second colonnaded court. A tasteful marble portal (Italian) leads thence into the Salle des Glaces, which has a fine ceiling and a valuable Kairwan carpet. We then mount the staircase to the First Floor, where the large festal hall is on the right.
The old Palace of the Harem, a creation of the extravagant bey Sidi Mohammed (1855–9), rivalling the Alcázar of Seville (p. [61]) in its wealth of decoration, was carefully restored in 1885–1888 and converted into a national museum.
The *Musée du Bardo, or Musée Alaoui, named after Bey Ali Pasha (1882–1902), containing the rich yield of excavations in every part of Tunisia, is now the finest collection in Barbary. The Moorish and Turkish antiquities were arranged in 1900 in a pretty little adjoining palace under the name of Musée Arabe. Adm., see p. [331]; catalogue (1897) 10 fr., supplement (1906–10) 27 fr.; director, M. Merlin.
Ground Floor. The Entrance Room contains Roman mosaics from Henchir Sidi Djedidi, etc.; family tombstone of the imperial slave Optatus, from the burial-ground of the Officiales (p. [348]). Also, on the right, votive stones from the temples of Saturn at Aïn-Tounga and on Jebel Bou-Kornin (p. [363]), Roman milestones from the Tebessa road, etc.; on the left, Roman tomb-cippi and inscriptions. Then two altars bearing regulations in favour of farmers on the imperial estates: D441. from Henchir-Mettich near Testour (time of Trajan), and D 442. from Aïn-Ouassel (time of Septimius Severus); C 1030. Statue of Concordia from Djorf Bou-Grara (p. [392]). At the end of the room, a much damaged Roman sarcophagus with the Muses.—On the right is—
Room I (Pre-Roman Room). Along the walls are Punic and neo-Punic votive stones dedicated to Baal, Tanit (p. [356]), and other deities; then tomb-stelæ, catapult-balls from an arsenal at Carthage, etc.—At the back-wall of the side-room is a stela from Maktar, nearly 7 ft. high, with a Libyan and neo-Punic inscription.—On the left of the Entrance Room is—
Room III (Early-Christian Room). In the centre, B 53. Font from El-Kantara (p. [394]). Along the walls are mosaics from Tabarca and other places, and sarcophagi. In the show-case, lamps and vessels in clay from Oudna (5–6th cent.).—In the passage to R. IV, terracotta slabs with reliefs, once the mural decoration of churches.
Room IV (Bulla Regia Room), containing finds from Hammam-Darradji (p. [326]): Roman sculptures of the time of Antoninus Pius (138–161), incl. C 1017. A Minerva Polias in the style of a Parthenos with the cornucopia of Bonus Eventus and a mural crown; *C 1018. Torso of Athena; C 1014. Æsculapius, after a Greek original of the 4th cent.; C 1013. Colossal statue of Apollo, after the school of Scopas; C 1015. Ceres; Roman inscriptions.—In the adjoining Room V, terracotta figures from the temples of Baal and Tanit at Bir Bou-Rekba.
On the Staircase, C 1033. Head of Hercules, Roman mosaics, etc.; on the upper landing, C 939. Statue of Apollo from the theatre at Carthage.
First Floor. Room VI, the old inner court (patio) of the palace. In the centre are two large Roman mosaics from Oudna (2nd cent. A. D.): A 103. Bacchus presenting the vine to the Attic king Icarius (A 104. Hare and fox hunt, in front); A 105. Representation of a country estate, with hunting scenes. Between the columns of the portico are Roman statues in marble from Carthage (C 944. Ganymede; C 979. Bacchus; C 924. Juno; C 982. Isis; and others). Along the walls are marble busts and heads, most of them from Carthage.—Adjoining this room on the N. is—