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The Essential: Testour: a Tunisian town where history runs backwards

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Testour: a Tunisian town where history runs backwards

27/08/2015 GMT

BBC World Service - The Essential, Testour: a Tunisian town where history runs backwards

Edward Lewis explores the history of a town settled by people expelled from Andalucia

Edward Lewis explores the fascinating twists and turns of Testour: a settlement founded by Muslims expelled from Andalucia during the Reconquista, and built along European lines

A special essay from Edward Lewis explores the fascinating twists and turns of the history of Testour. This place was founded and built by Muslims and Jews expelled from the Iberian peninsula during the Reconquista, between the 12th and 15th centuries AD. Now it's inhabited mostly by Arabic-speaking Muslims - but signs of the original builders' nostalgia for Spain and cosmopolitan culture are everywhere. This is by no means a typical Tunisian town - yet it holds valuable, centuries-old lessons about tolerance and migration across the Mediterranean which are still very relevant today.

Photo: the minaret of Testour's mosque incorporates loudspeakers, a unique clock tower - and a clockface with numerals in reverse order. (c) Edward Lewis @ejlewis80

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