During the period of the “Great Reforms” (1837–81), the Ottoman province of Tunisia underwent major changes in its political, military, and economic arenas. This was also the case in the field of archaeology, where the history of excavations in Tunisia had been characterized by competition among foreign archaeologists seeking to enrich their national museums as a reflection of European imperialism. This dynamic would soon change thanks to Muhammad Khaznadar, the elder son of the grand vizier Mustafa Khaznadar. Through a unique trajectory that led him to study with the French historian Ernest Desjardin in Paris from 1863 to 1865, Muhammad Khaznadar developed a passion for antiquities that he would later apply by being the first Tunisian to excavate Carthage. The young dignitary rapidly gathered an important collection of antiquities that he displayed at the World’s Fair in Paris and acquired an international reputation as a modern man. Soon, he secured a “monopoly over antiquities,” which prevented the export of archaeological artifacts from Tunisia. Based on unpublished archives, this inquiry focuses on the rise of Muhammad Khaznadar as a collector and his role in the major cultural reforms that led Tunisians to claim the material remains of their pre-Islamic heritage.
Necipoğlu, Gülru, and Maria J. Metzler, eds. 2020. Muqarnas. Vol. 37. Leiden: Brill.
