Tunisia’s Bardo National Museum will soon reopen after a two-year closure, the country’s ministry of culture has said.
The ministry said Bardo’s doors will reopen “after the completion of the maintenance and restoration work carried out in its various pavilions and rooms during the period of closure.”
The museum, which was closed on July 25, 2021, is located in the capital Tunis.
The announcement was made on Tuesday after Tunisia’s Minister of Culture Hayet Ketat Guermazi held talks with Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani.
On August 24, Guermazi allayed fears that the museum would be permanently shut down.
Petitions
Last month, activists, historians, archeologists and scholars petitioned the government to reopen Bardo National Museum.
The museum hosts a large collection of artefacts from all periods of Tunisia’s history, dating back 3,000 years.
Bardo was closed in 2021 when President Kais Saied suspended parliament.
In March 2015, a terrorist attack occurred at the museum. In 2020, following the outbreak of Covid-19, restriction of movement and public interaction saw the museum record low tourist visits.
It was then closed on July 25, 2021 as part of government’s wider measures.
Bardo was founded on May 7, 1888. It has remained Tunisia’s most significant museum, and one of the most important artefact facilities in the Mediterranean.
It houses a large collection of Roman mosaics as well as Hellenistic bronze and marble objects from underwater excavations.
