Thirty-five kilometres from the capital are the ruins of ancient Carthage, founded in 814 BC, the capital of one of the great states of antiquity. Here was the centre of the Phoenician trading empire, which included almost the entire Mediterranean, here converged trade routes across the Sahara and Western Asia, here rumbled the famous battles of the Punic Wars.
Most of the surviving structures date back to the I century - the Roman period, and during the excavation of the hill Birsa were found structures from the time of the Phoenicians.
The exposition of the National Museum of Carthage is located in the building of the former monastery. Here you can see stone sarcophagi from the Roman and Punic periods, Roman mosaic panels, sculptures, as well as a collection of pottery, funerary vases and stone tombstones.
The Archaeological Park of Roman Villas occupies the eastern slope of Odeon Hill. Here you can tour a 3rd-century Roman house, named the House of the Birdman because of the mosaics depicting birds. Nearby are fragments of the 3rd-century Odeon, built under Septimius Severus for poetry competitions, and the 2nd-century theatre, which now hosts performances of an international festival.
Next to the sea is the Archaeological Park of the Thermae of Antoninus Pius. Here one can see small sarcophagi for the burial of children sacrificed to the god Baal, underground cisterns, the remains of houses with fragments of mosaics, and the ruins of huge thermae built under the emperor Antoninus.
The ruins of numerous Byzantine churches, the cathedral of Saint Louis (1890) in the rear aisle of which is the National Museum, the cathedral of St Cyprian and the Lavigerie Museum remain from later eras.
The archaeological park is located near the sea.
