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Roots Earth in Sfax: audio stories about 40 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 40 places in Sfax, Tunisia, in Africa. The Sfax stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Sfax, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 40 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: sfax.md

The 40 places in Sfax with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Great Mosque of Sfax
  2. Medina of Sfax
  3. Kasbah of Sfax
  4. Bab Diwan
  5. Dar Jellouli Museum
  6. Bab Jebli
  7. Borj Ennar
  8. Thenae
  9. Kerkennah Islands
  10. University of Sfax
  11. Sfax–Thyna International Airport
  12. Sfax Governorate
  13. Hôtel de Ville (City Hall)
  14. Municipal Theatre of Sfax
  15. Archaeological Museum of Sfax
  16. Place de la République
  17. Souks of the Medina
  18. Sidi Amar Kammoun Mosque
  19. Sidi Ali Ennouri Mausoleum
  20. Sidi Belhassen Karray Mausoleum
  21. Driba Mosque
  22. Frankish Quarter
  23. Ramparts of the Medina
  24. Port of Sfax
  25. Sfax Corniche
  26. Avenue Habib Bourguiba
  27. Sfax Railway Station
  28. Bab Jebli Market
  29. Taïeb Mhiri Stadium
  30. CS Sfaxien
  31. Sidi Mansour
  32. Gremda
  33. Sakiet Ezzit
  34. El Ain
  35. Makroudh of Sfax
  36. Harissa
  37. Brik
  38. Sfaxian Cuisine
  39. Olive Groves of Sfax
  40. Salt Pans of Thyna

Is there an audio guide for Great Mosque of Sfax?

Yes. Great Mosque of Sfax has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 40 Sfax places in the app, at 34.73611, 10.76083. Every one of the other 39 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Sfax

Open Roots Earth and choose Sfax. The city has its own map of places with all 40 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 40 places in Sfax, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 40 places in Sfax, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Great Mosque of Sfax

Coordinates
34.73611, 10.76083
In one line
Founded around 849 under the Aghlabids, this fortress-like hypostyle mosque stands at the heart of the medina. Its richly carved cuboid minaret, reused ancient columns, and decorated eastern facade mark it as Sfax's spiritual center.

2. Medina of Sfax

Coordinates
34.73477, 10.76223
In one line
Laid out between 849 and 851 under the Aghlabids, this walled town spans roughly 24 hectares behind ramparts 2,750 meters long. Among the best-preserved medieval medinas in North Africa, it survived the bombing of the Second World War nearly intact.

3. Kasbah of Sfax

Coordinates
34.7335, 10.7588
In one line
Built in the 9th century by the Aghlabids as a coastal watchtower at the medina's southwestern corner, this fortress later served governors, Ottoman garrisons, and French gendarmes. Since the 1980s it has housed a museum of Sfax's traditional architecture.

4. Bab Diwan

Coordinates
34.73477, 10.76223
In one line
The main southern gate of the medina, facing the sea, Bab Diwan was fortified in the 17th century with a defensive dogleg passage. Named for the Hafsid-era customs office, it was widened with broad arches in 1909 and 1963.

5. Dar Jellouli Museum

Coordinates
34.737, 10.7621
In one line
A 17th-century patrician mansion built by Andalusian refugees and later home to the powerful Jellouli family, this house is now the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions of Sfax, displaying costumes, calligraphy, and scenes of old city life.

6. Bab Jebli

Coordinates
34.7393, 10.7617
In one line
The main northern gate of the medina, built of dressed stone in the 9th century under the Aghlabids. Restored by the Hafsids in 1419 and later by the Husainids, it opens onto a busy food-and-spice souk inside the old city.

7. Borj Ennar

Coordinates
34.7336, 10.7645
In one line
Raised at the medina's southeastern corner when the city was founded, this fort of fire once signaled the coastal defenses by firecracker. Covering roughly 600 square meters with four towers, it now houses the association safeguarding the medina.

8. Thenae

Coordinates
34.68733, 10.7205
In one line
Thenae is an ancient coastal city south of Sfax, founded by Phoenician settlers and raised by Rome to a colony named Aelia Augusta Mercurialis. Its ruins include baths, a domus, ramparts, and an early Christian basilica.

9. Kerkennah Islands

Coordinates
34.7, 11.18333
In one line
The Kerkennah Islands form a low, palm-fringed archipelago in the Gulf of Gabès, east of Sfax. Inhabited since antiquity and known to the Romans as Cercina, they survive today through traditional fishing, date palms, and a slow island rhythm.

10. University of Sfax

Coordinates
34.73708, 10.74356
In one line
Founded in 1986, the University of Sfax is a major public university spread across the city, gathering faculties, colleges, and institutes. With tens of thousands of students, it anchors science, engineering, and research in southern Tunisia.

11. Sfax–Thyna International Airport

Coordinates
34.71778, 10.69083
In one line
Sfax–Thyna International Airport lies just southwest of the city, taking its name from ancient Thyna nearby. Once a wartime airfield, it now connects the Sfax region through a modern terminal with services to Libya and France.

12. Sfax Governorate

Coordinates
34.73333, 10.76667
In one line
Sfax Governorate is a coastal region of eastern Tunisia, created in 1956 and centered on the city of Sfax. Covering more than 7,500 square kilometers, it includes the Kerkennah Islands and ranks among the country's most populous governorates.

13. Hôtel de Ville (City Hall)

Coordinates
34.74, 10.763
In one line
The Hôtel de Ville is Sfax's city hall, designed by French architect Raphaël Guy in a blend of European and Arab-Moorish styles. Built from 1905 to 1906 in the colonial new town, it also houses an archaeological museum of regional finds.

14. Municipal Theatre of Sfax

Coordinates
34.7405, 10.7645
In one line
The Municipal Theatre of Sfax was an early-20th-century stage built by architect Raphaël Guy in a neo-Moorish style to match the city hall. A center of the colonial new town's cultural life, it operated until the early 1940s.

15. Archaeological Museum of Sfax

Coordinates
34.74, 10.763
In one line
Housed inside the City Hall of Sfax, this archaeological museum gathers finds from the region, including Roman mosaics from the ancient coastal city of Thaenae, alongside prehistoric and Islamic pieces tracing thousands of years of local life.

16. Place de la République

Coordinates
34.741, 10.764
In one line
The civic heart of modern Sfax, this open square fronts the grand City Hall built from 1905 by architect Rafael Guy. Palm-lined avenues, a clock tower and a blend of Arab-Moorish and European design mark the planned French-era new town.

17. Souks of the Medina

Coordinates
34.736, 10.762
In one line
A network of around 30 trade-specific markets threads through the medina of Sfax, most clustered north of the Great Mosque. Vaulted lanes hold sellers of chechias, wool, fabric, gold and crafts, with names that have been used since the 18th century.

18. Sidi Amar Kammoun Mosque

Coordinates
34.7355, 10.761
In one line
A neighborhood shrine and mosque in the medina of Sfax, honoring the local saint Sidi Amar Kammoun. Its old quarter and minaret are part of the dense religious fabric of the walled town, where mosques and saints' tombs stand close together.

19. Sidi Ali Ennouri Mausoleum

Coordinates
34.7365, 10.7615
In one line
A revered shrine in the medina of Sfax honoring Sidi Ali Ennouri, a scholar who led resistance against the Order of Saint John and founded medersas that helped make the city a noted center of learning during the Mouradid era.

20. Sidi Belhassen Karray Mausoleum

Coordinates
34.7362, 10.7605
In one line
A venerated mausoleum in the medina of Sfax honoring Abu El Hassan El Karray, a scholar of the Mouradid era who founded a medrasa and helped make the city a leading destination for students of religious learning.

21. Driba Mosque

Coordinates
34.7358, 10.7618
In one line
One of the historic mosques still standing within the medina of Sfax, the Driba Mosque is part of the dense religious fabric of the walled old town founded by the Aghlabids, where places of worship are woven into the medieval streets.

22. Frankish Quarter

Coordinates
34.732, 10.765
In one line
The Frankish Quarter rose south of the medina in 1776 as a walled trading suburb reserved for Jews and Christians. A hub of maritime commerce, it bridged the old city and the sea before Allied bombing erased it.

23. Ramparts of the Medina

Coordinates
34.73477, 10.76223
In one line
Raised in the 9th century under the Aghlabids, the ramparts of Sfax ring the medina for roughly 2,750 meters. Rising up to 11 meters with 67 towers, the rectangular walls remain among the most complete medieval fortifications in the Maghreb.

24. Port of Sfax

Coordinates
34.728, 10.773
In one line
Opened to traffic in 1891, the artificial port of Sfax replaced a modest wooden pier and turned the city into Tunisia's busiest commercial harbor. It shipped phosphates, olive oil, and esparto, and remains a vital trade and fishing hub today.

25. Sfax Corniche

Coordinates
34.745, 10.775
In one line
The Sfax Corniche is the city's modern seafront promenade along the Mediterranean, north of the working port.

26. Avenue Habib Bourguiba

Coordinates
34.742, 10.766
In one line
Avenue Habib Bourguiba runs through the heart of the modern city, the main artery of the colonial-era new town built outside the medina. The City Hall of Sfax opens onto it, anchoring a district of broad streets, civic buildings, and daily life.

27. Sfax Railway Station

Coordinates
34.738, 10.769
In one line
Sfax Railway Station anchors the city's place on Tunisia's rail network. Built around the lines laid between the 1890s and early 1900s, it links Sfax to Tunis and to the southern phosphate mines, carrying both passengers and the mineral wealth bound for the port.

28. Bab Jebli Market

Coordinates
34.7395, 10.762
In one line
Bab Jebli is the medina's northern gate, the "mountain gate," and the market around it is one of the busiest in Sfax. Inside lies a popular vegetable market, outside a covered market, where the old city's food and spice trade still thrives daily.

29. Taïeb Mhiri Stadium

Coordinates
34.73361, 10.74639
In one line
Sfax's main football ground, opened in 1938 and home to CS Sfaxien. Once named after a French official, it now honors Tunisian statesman Taïeb Mhiri and seats roughly twelve thousand fans.

30. CS Sfaxien

Coordinates
34.73361, 10.74639
In one line
Sfax's storied football club, founded in 1928 and famed for its black-and-white stripes. Nicknamed the Arabian Juventus, CS Sfaxien has won eight league titles and three CAF Confederation Cups.

31. Sidi Mansour

Coordinates
34.78, 10.8
In one line
A small coastal town in the Sfax Governorate that shares its name with a revered Sufi saint and a beloved Tunisian folk song known and reworked far beyond Tunisia's shores.

32. Gremda

Coordinates
34.75, 10.78333
In one line
A town in the Sfax Governorate famed for hosting Tunisia's largest olive market, busiest each December when the harvest pours in from the surrounding groves of the country's olive heartland.

33. Sakiet Ezzit

Coordinates
34.8, 10.77
In one line
A fast-growing town just north of Sfax whose name means olive water-wheel. Once a farming settlement, it is now a major olive-processing center and home to a technology park drawing thousands of students.

34. El Ain

Coordinates
34.8, 10.78333
In one line
A town and commune about seven kilometers north of Sfax whose name means the spring or the well, a reminder of the precious water that shaped settlement across this dry southern region.

35. Makroudh of Sfax

Coordinates
34.736, 10.762
In one line
A diamond-shaped Maghrebi pastry of semolina filled with date paste, fried or baked and soaked in honey syrup. A beloved sweet across Tunisia, especially cherished during Eid al-Fitr.

36. Harissa

Coordinates
34.736, 10.762
In one line
Harissa is Tunisia's fiery red chili paste, pounded from roasted peppers, garlic, caraway and coriander in olive oil. A national condiment and UNESCO-listed heritage since 2022, it flavors nearly every Sfaxian table.

37. Brik

Coordinates
34.736, 10.762
In one line
Brik is Tunisia's beloved fried pastry: a crisp triangle of paper-thin malsouka wrapped around a whole egg, tuna, onion, parsley and harissa. Eaten with the hands, it is a staple of Sfaxian homes and street corners alike.

38. Sfaxian Cuisine

Coordinates
34.7406, 10.7603
In one line
Sfaxian cuisine is among Tunisia's boldest, built on Mediterranean seafood, local olive oil and fierce harissa. Signature dishes include the fish soup marka and the sweet-savory charmoula, layered over centuries of Berber, Arab, Ottoman and Andalusian influence.

39. Olive Groves of Sfax

Coordinates
34.76, 10.72
In one line
The olive groves of Sfax stretch across the dry plains around the city, planted with the drought-hardy Chemlali variety. A cornerstone of Tunisia's standing as a top global olive-oil producer, they continue a tradition reaching back to Roman antiquity.

40. Salt Pans of Thyna

Coordinates
34.68, 10.73
In one line
The Salt Pans of Thyna spread south of Sfax along the coast, a mosaic of shallow evaporation ponds shading pink and red. A working saltworks and a Ramsar-protected wetland, they shelter flamingos and over one hundred bird species.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

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