The Hamouda Pasha Mosque is rightly considered one of the main attractions and one of the most beautiful mosques in the country. It is not for nothing that it is the first to be sought after when visiting Tunisia. It was built on the territory of this state in the XVII century during the domination of the Turkish Empire.
The architectural ensemble of the mosque is made in the style of Muslim Baroque, which was common in the states of the East at this time in connection with the Turkish influence, and replaced the heavy style of the Aglabid era. The marble door and ceilings covered with green tiles and decorated with golden crescents attract attention. The elements framing the two marble columns of the central niche of the mihrab, and the capitals of the columns of the main hall (prayer room) trace the influence of Italian architecture - the stone carving is fine, graceful, there is no sense of coarseness of the stone material on which the work is done.
This Hanafi mosque ends with an octagonal minaret. In the very centre of the mosque is the tomb (humpback) of Hamoud Pasha, one of the most revered and famous beys of Tunisia, who lived in the 18th century. The tomb was built in 1655, and in the hall closest to it, the prayer room, rests ancestors from the Mouradid dynasty, the founders of the mosque.
The Hamouda Pasha Mosque became the prototype for the Habib-Bourguiba Mosque in the city of Monastir on the north-west coast of Tunisia.
