L’architecture traditionnelle des villages perchés du centre-nord tunisien: le cas de Zriba el-Alia

The traditional construction of perched villages represents a typical architectural heritage of northern Africa. The Berber villages of Zriba el-Alia, Takrouna Sidi Medien and Jradou, which probably date back to the Middle Ages, are built on rocky reliefs dominating the plain of north-central Tunisia. The original architectural features and common traditions link these four villages. Each village is home to a small mosque and a mausoleum dedicated to Sidi Abd al-Kadir Jilani, the country's most prominent saint. These religious monuments served as Koranic schools where young villagers learned to read and write. They are built, in part, with architectural elements from ancient archaeological sites in the surrounding area. Today, these villages are historical complexes rich in tangible and intangible heritage. The local traditions related to the daily life of the inhabitants and their customs are, unfortunately, forgotten and very little known. The reading and the valorization of the historical site through the architecture and the know-how of the people reflect the richness of the heritage still partially preserved in this territory. Based on the morphological study and on the historical and graphic documents of the sites analysed, the present work aims at highlighting a particular and little-known Mediterranean architectural heritage, in the hope of cultivating the memory of those distant messages of stone that are important inasmuch as they tell a story, arouse emotion, provoke reflection, thus becoming emblematic witnesses to the life of the monuments to which they belong.