Musée National de Carthage (Carthage National Museum), Tunis

The Carthage National Museum was founded in 1875 by Cardinal Charles Martial Lavigerie and initially known as the Museum Lavigerie. Officially opened in 1963, its collections grew from decades of archaeological excavations led by European researchers, including Alfred Louis Delattre. Discoveries made on and around Byrsa Hill includes a Late Roman house with mosaic fragments and the remains of a 5th-century Christian church.

The exhibits trace the city’s evolution from its Phoenician foundations through the Roman, early Christian, and Byzantine periods. Punic stelae, funerary inscriptions, ceramics, jewelry, and everyday objects reveal how Carthage functioned before its destruction in 146 BC. Roman sculptures, mosaics, amphorae, and architectural fragments reflect the city’s later rebirth as a major center of Roman North Africa.

Highlights include a marble sarcophagus of a priest and priestess from the 3rd century BC, delicate cast-glass jewelry, expressive masks, ivory objects, and the well-known mosaic portrait often referred to as the “Lady of Carthage”.