Founding of Kairouan and its Great Mosque

The Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi founded Kairouan in 670 as a base for the Muslim conquest of North Africa. Its Great Mosque, rebuilt in its present form in the 9th century under the Aghlabid emirs, became a model for mosques across the Maghreb, and the city a centre of Islamic law and learning. Many Tunisians regard it as Islam's fourth holy city.