Table 4 The development timeline of the Medina of Tunis’s conservation strategy (Source: Ammar 1010; Nardella and Cidre 2016; Abdelkafi 1989)
Period | Changes in the Conservation Strategy |
|---|---|
From the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the French protectorate | Vakif system for the maintenance, restoration, and management of public buildings (known as Habous in Tunisia, it is an institution derived from Islamic law to regulate ‘the donation of an individual property in perpetuity for the public welfare and under the possession of God’ (Nardella and Cidre 2016) |
1880s | French protectorate: establishment of the Service des Antiquités in 1885, which operated until the 1970s |
1953–1956 | The 1953 Decree of heritage site protection Rupture with the past through Bourguiba’s regime based on modernisation and Westernisation (resort tourism) Establishment of the National Institute of Archaeology and Art (INAA) in 1957 |
1960s–1970s | Establishment of the ASM by the municipality of Tunis in 1964 The Medina of Tunis became a world heritage site (WHS) in 1979 |
1980s | Urban rehabilitation and renewal attempt in the Medina of Tunis directed by the National Agency of Urban Rehabilitation and Renewal (ARRU) By the end of the 1980s, the regime of Ben Ali started, promoting the activation of national pride through heritage and cultural tourism |
1990s | Establishment of: • L’Agence de mise en valeur du patrimoine, Heritage Revitalisation Agency (AMVP) • Agency for the Enhancement of Heritage and Cultural Promotion (AMVPPC) • Heritage Code and Urbanism Code (1994) |
2000 | EUROMED Heritage and the World Bank funded revitalisation projects in the Medina of Tunis |
2011 | Arab Spring and the short-term abrupt rupture with conservation projects |
The post-revolution era | The change in status of the ASM and the clashing of interests in the conservation and management of responsible public actors The establishment of the municipality of Tunis’s conservation department |