The history of Bab El Kasbah

Bab El Kasbah is one of the gates of the Medina of Sfax, located in the west of its walls southern facade. It gives access to the Kasbah. Originally called Bab Jedid, or the new door, it was the first gate built at the end of the 19th century, more than 1000 years after the oldest gates of the medina, Bab Jebli and Bab Diwan. The gate received its current name from the Kasbah located to its east.

The main purpose behind this entrance was to decrease the flow of passengers through two other gates and facilitate the exchange with the colonial district of Bab Bhar. After a renovation in 1960, Bab El Kasbah was provided with a smaller second entrance just next to it.

From the outer side, the door overlooks the Resistance Square, Dakar's Gardens, and the Lycée technique through Ali Belhouane Avenue. On the other side, the gate gives access to a square delimited by Sidi Ilyes mosque in the front, the Cheikh Meftah Mausoleum and the Madrasa Abbassiya in the east, and the Kasbah in the west.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons