Dar El Annabi

In Arabic, “dar” means “house,” so the name above the entrance reads literally: the house of the Annabi family. The estate itself is older than that name. It was built at the end of the eighteenth century and was previously called Dar Ennayfer, after the surname of its former owners.

The Annabi name became established here thanks to the family of the mufti Mohamed Annabi. A mufti was a Muslim legal scholar, consulted for decisions on religious and family matters. He used this estate as a summer residence, but he could not find seclusion here. According to family accounts, petitioners came at any time. The library, prayer room, and reception rooms served the owner in his daily work, rather than forming a ceremonial set of rooms.

After the mufti’s death, the house passed to his younger son, Taieb Annabi. Taieb earned his living as a lawyer, wrote about law and religion, and later served as a diplomat. Here, he set up a literary salon with an open door. At the table, people discussed books, drank coffee, and played cards; no formal invitation was required to enter. Taieb collected manuscripts and family papers and threw away almost nothing. Thanks to this habit, his heirs inherited not empty decorated rooms, but a family archive and many objects from former everyday life.

On July first, nineteen ninety-nine, Taieb’s son opened part of the house to the public. He arranged the preserved belongings throughout the rooms and added mannequins to show the activities for which these rooms were once used: a notary’s work, wedding preparations, and applying henna to the bride. This is a private museum, created by descendants inside their own family home; the scenes with figures are their reconstruction, not a frozen moment from the eighteenth century.

Only part of roughly fifty rooms is open to visitors. Members of the family still live in the rest. Behind some inner doors, Annabi family life continues; behind others, the heirs display the things Taieb collected. The name at the entrance precisely describes this division: the museum occupies Dar El Annabi, but the Annabi home has not disappeared from it.