Viewing Terraces by Sidi Bou Said Lighthouse

The white tower beyond the terraces seems too low for a lighthouse. There was no need to build a tall tower here: the steep headland had already raised the lantern above the sea. From a vessel, this shore marks the northern entrance to the Gulf of Tunis, and the light shows the way to La Goulette—the port through which cargo was carried onward to the capital.

In eighteen forty, representatives of several European maritime powers appealed to Ahmed I Bey, then the ruler of Tunisia. They sought a permanent light on this very headland. Shipowners earned money by carrying cargo, while captains and crews had the vessel, the goods, and their own lives at stake with every arrival. La Goulette's harbor light could not replace a marker visible while still approaching the gulf.

Ahmed ordered a system of reflectors to be installed here; France supplied the optical equipment. This was how Tunisia's first modern lighthouse appeared. However, the reflectors proved insufficiently effective. Sailors' request received a reliable answer only under the next ruler.

In eighteen sixty-three, Sadok Bey ordered the former system replaced with a lens apparatus. Builders installed it on a circular tower about ten meters high. The lenses concentrated the light into a directed beam, and the short tower at the edge of the cliff became a fully functioning sea marker. A single-story house was built beside it for the keepers: they lived here and were responsible for ensuring that the light was lit every night.

The tower's circular base rests on masonry that researchers date to antiquity. The optical equipment has been replaced since then, but the lighthouse itself continues to operate. It now gives a white flash every five seconds, and the keepers' house still stands beside the lantern.