Ever since Ben Ali’s escape, Tunisians have been talking about the luxurious palaces he left behind and their countless contents. His palace in El Kef City (250 Km southwestern of Tunis) is one of these landmarks El Kef people consider a historical heritage with an obscure future.

Ever since Ben Ali’s escape, Tunisians have been talking about the luxurious palaces he left behind and their countless contents. His palace in El Kef City (250 Km southwestern of Tunis) is one of these landmarks El Kef people consider a historical heritage with an obscure future.

The mythical palace is locate amidst pine forests at the northern entrance to El Kef, which has long provided people with stories about politics and the lives of kings, similar to those of Arabian Nights. Though mostly fictional, such stories  have been alive since the 1970s, when the palace was full of life.

A poor man’s holiday

For the people of El Kef, the palace’s huge iron gate is witness to a period when their city was the center of decision-making at the level of Tunisia and the Arab Maghreb.  In 1962, Habib Bourguiba – Tunisia’s first President – built a resort on the rubbles of an old quarter at the top of the highest summit in El Kef. Escaping the capital’s noise and pollution, Bourguiba used to go to this resort, turning it into a strategic place for rest and recreation as well as an important center for decision making.

While residing there, Bourguiba used to receive the region’s politicians and dignitaries as well as high-ranking officials from the Arab Maghreb countries in undeclared meetings.

Since then, people have called the entire area overlooking many of the city’s quarters and entrances as well as the neighboring park, the ‘President’s palace.’ The area is also a “resort” for families too poor to spend their summers in coastal cities.  There they can escape hot summers and enjoy the breeze coming from El Kef’s high mountains. Their journey’s, however, ended at the iron gate, which, for a long time, allowed people to come up with different tales about what lay behind those gates.

Loss of royal splendor

After Ben Ali came into power, the palace lost its splendor as well as its publicity. When visiting the palace for treatment or recreation, Bourguiba used to approach common people and walk comfortably and securely in the lanes of Al-Qadereyah, Sidi Bomakhlouf and Ra’s Al-Ein.

“The palace was majestic and attractive,” says 70 year-old Sadek.  “Although Bourguiba marginalized the region, we were somehow proud and happy as he frequented us and had friendships and relationships with locals.”

Sadek was born in El Kef and has spent his lifetime within its old alleys. After Bourguiba stepped down, he says, the palace became a resort for the governors. They inhabited and enjoyed it and stole its contents.

Isolation of the palace and the city

People of El Kef stress that this place, with all its historical symbolism and cultural value turned into a mere residence for the governors who went too far in isolating the region.  

After the revolution, El Kef citizens raised their voices, protesting against following the same practices of the former regime, including favoritism, discrimination and abuse of the country’s landmarks and heritage. In this context, Salah Eddin Ouity, a representative of the City Restoration Society, expressed his worries about the continuous isolation of the region cultural and development aspects.

“The region’s governor is still ‘occupying’ the historical palace, which could become a cultural or development project.”  Ouity also stressed the importance of developing a comprehensive, state-funded cultural plan to create new dynamism in the region and end isolation.

Adel Khlifi, a secondary stage teacher and a political activist, expressed his worries about the obscure future of this national heritage still being used as a residence for the governor.  “It could be economically and socially invested to benefit the whole city,” he said.

Khlifi says that a regional petition of about one thousands signatures of intellectuals, dramatists and ordinary citizens has been submitted to the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) members for El Kef to implement a project to restore Bourguiba’s palace and turn it into a tourist and cultural location open to everyone.

The city is still waiting for the NCA’s reaction regarding the project that would turn El Kef into a tourist destination and dust off many of the stories and tales underneath hidden in its corners.