As we walked through the Kairouan medina, we passed many doors. Many were fancy but most were not. We learned that we could not tell what was behind the doors we were walking past. Most of the Kairouan medina was tall white walls and blue doors.

Our guide suggested that we go into one such door. He said it was a business that makes and sells carpets and Kairouan is the Tunisian capital of carpets since they are its main craft product. We met the owner or manager upon entering. He gave us his carpet spiel but told us to look around the house. His business occupies what he claimed was the “best house in the Kairouan medina.” The house was huge and was fabulously rich in marble, tile, wood, etc.

Between all the carpets everywhere plus much of the original furniture, it was hard to capture this house in photos. We think that a family still lives in this house. The house was two stories and must have had more than a dozen rooms and perhaps even twenty rooms. They let us wander around and enjoy ourselves. It was a very comfortable house. So don’t let the modesty of the medina streets fool you.

The first photo was a very large room, where I was standing to take the photo, and a smaller sitting area in the photo. I have no idea what the function was for this room.

I just took the second photo to remind me that this was indeed currently a working carpet factory.

The third photo is another very large room with again, no obvious function. Perhaps it’s a ‘living room.’

The fourth photo is a bedroom and like the whole house, very fancy. Our friend Karen is in the photo and she was a fellow traveler.

The last photo is another unknown room. The detail of some of the pieces was incredible. For instance, the sideboard and the octagon table were both wooden with inlaid ivory and mother-of-pearl and with exquisite workmanship.