Photos

Habib Bourguiba (Arabic: حبيب بورقيبة Ḥabīb Būrqība‎) (August 3, 1903–April 6, 2000) was a Tunisian statesman and the Founder and First President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 to November 7, 1987. He is often compared to Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk because of the pro-Western reforms enacted during his presidency. During the time Bourguiba was president, education was a high priority. Bourguiba also promoted women's rights as a way to gain Western support for his regime during the Cold War. Though these set important legal precedents by prohibiting polygamy, expanding women's access to divorce, and raising the age at which girls could marry to 17 years of age - he simaultaneously banned women's rights groups from organizing. The new Personal Status Code passed in August 1956 expanded women's rights, though it remains open to debate how much this transformed Tunisian society in practice. Notably, the Code also institutionalized the role of the father as head of the family, and Bourguiba himself was a patriarchal ruler. After independence, Tunisia's Jewish Community Council was abolished by the government and many Jewish areas and buildings were destroyed for "urban renewal."

The mausoleum of Bourguiba's family is an odd reminder of Tunisia's political system. Habib Bourguiba was the first president of Tunisia, and although he never was elected by the people in free elections, he is generally considered as the father of the modern nation.
Bourguiba died in 2000, and was buried here. Before him, his parents and his wife had both been lain to ground under one of the 2 green domes.
The mausoleum was started to be built in 1963, and has many similarities to the typical mosque and holy man's tomb (zawiyya). In addition to the 3 domes (2 green and one gilded), there are 2 minarets marking the entrance to the complex.