Sidi Bou Said
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How it came to be
Sidi Bou Said is a village on a headland above the Mediterranean, about 20 km north-east of Tunis. It was once called Jabal el-Menar. In the 12th or 13th century the Sufi master Abu Said al-Baji founded a sanctuary here, and when he died in 1231 he was buried on the site. The village grew around his tomb and took his name.
In the 18th century wealthy people from Tunis built houses here. In the 1920s Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger popularized the scheme of white walls with blue windows and doors. His former house, Ennejma Ezzahra, is now a museum of musical instruments.
The village has long drawn painters and writers. In January 2026 the heaviest rain in more than 70 years set off landslides and cracks, and some buildings were evacuated. The same year it was inscribed as a village where the cliff, the buildings and Sufi devotion form one whole.
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