Souq El Berka

Tunis


Barrel-vaulted Souq El Berka dates from Ottoman times: this was the slave souq where prisoners of Muslim corsairs were sold from a wooden block. Later, with piracy on the wane, sub-Saharan Africans were traded instead (slavery was finally abolished in 1846). Restored, the souq is now a goldsmith’s market where courting couples come to pick out wedding jewels.