Magic Carpet

We took a road trip yesterday. We met up with another couple, Taher and Emma, and drove the two hours south and west to Kairouan. Depending on who you are talking to, Kairouan is touted as Islam's fourth holiest city. The article in Wikipedia said that some Muslims believe that seven trips to Kairouan is like a single trip to Mecca. Of course, the guy who accompanied us was Muslim and spent the whole day bashing this idea.

Our first stop was the tourism bureau where we had a scenic overlook of the cisterns and hired a guide to take us around and show us the sites.The pools are pretty impressive and still hold water after over 1000 years. The area around them is a big park-like place and lots of families were out enjoying the beautiful weather. These reservoirs, called the Aghlabid basins, are the only remaining parts of some impressive waterworks built during the time of Charlemagne. At that time Kairouan was a center of learning where Muslims built the first mosque by scavenging the ruins of Carthage and carting off the steles and columns.
The Great Mosque of Sidi Uqba is an impressive historical site and can only be visited when it's not open for prayers because it's still a working mosque. The center courtyard has a marble topped area that grades down to a perforated carved grate. The entire courtyard serves as a collector for the cistern below the ground. It wasn't open for visitors, but we were told there were over 100 columns holding the courtyard up. There are over 600 columns in this mosque and no two are alike.

The prayer room has a famous mihrab and minbar. The mihrab is the concave shaped niche that is sited to point directly to Mecca. It's where the imam leads prayers. The minbar is an eleven step raised pulpit that is used by the imams during high holidays. This one is hand carved from imported teak. Both of these are considered the finest examples of Muslim art from the period. Scholars are still arguing about where some of the tiles were made. The floor of the prayer room is carpeted by gorgeous examples of the local carpet makers arts. It is traditional for brides to gift the mosque with a carpet when they marry.

Kairouan is the center of Tunisia's carpet industry.They welcome visitors to town with a giant art piece which has carpets depicted on both sides of the enormous thing.And since my 32nd anniversary present was supposed to be a 'conveyance', I was searching for a magic carpet. This sculpture led me to believe I had found the right place.

One of the most amazing parts of the tour was going through the Mausoleum of Sidi Sahab, generally known as the Mosque of the Barber. This veneration place is dedicated to a gentleman who is said to have saved three hairs off Mohammad's beard. The walls of the shrine are covered in colorful mosaics. For years, these designs were the only ones that could be used for rugs.
There were courtyards and rooms and halls, all of which were covered by glorious, colorful tiles. No two designs were alike. Still today, the women of Kairouan go to these places to pray and get inspiration for the carpets they create. They do not use templates or patterns, they study the walls and then go make a carpet. There are different grades of carpet made here, the finest ones have 90,000 knots per square meter of carpet. No children or men make rugs in Kairouan, this is a woman's work.
You can buy rugs all over the country here, but in this place, the government regulates production and the very best quality workers are employed. Kairouan is very proud of their carpets. The Bey's house is a historic site that also includes an outlet for purchasing carpets that are locally made. When I indicated that I was there to get a carpet and was willing to purchase a magic carpet, I was assured that if I bought one, they'd tell me the magic word to make it fly. I completely forgot to ask the magic word, so I guess this rug will stay house bound.
In case you were wondering, it takes a village to sell a carpet. There were three guys scurrying around fetching rolled carpets from all over the mansion. There was one guy giving us the knot count, type of weave, and specifics on each carpet. When it came time to snap a photo, the owner of the business came out and posed with our crew. One of the guys complimented DH on bringing such a 'good lawyer' with him. I guess having Taher there to argue and negotiate pricing in Arabic was inspired on our part.

They started rolling out individual carpets and as I indicated I liked one, they kept it aside and brought out some more. I narrowed it down to styles, sizes and colors and eventually, selected the 32nd anniversary present. My magic carpet.

Today, we took the carpet over to the new house and rolled it out. It looks nice in the empty room. Here's hoping that it goes okay with the furniture. Regardless, I love the pattern and the colors. You don't see too many blue carpets, most are red or gold. This one really appealed to me.

Emma assured me that it was such a nice carpet that if it doesn't match the furniture, I can just get new furniture. I think we're going to be good friends.

--Sandee Wagner