El Jem Museum

The El Jem Museum, located in Tunisia’s El Jem, displays Roman artifacts from ancient Thysdrus, including mosaics, sculptures, and ceramics.

Planning your visit

El Jem was Thysdrus, and it grew rich on olive oil. Roman North Africa supplied a substantial share of the empire's oil, and the wealth built villas whose floors were covered in mosaic of exceptional quality — which is what the museum holds.

The mosaics are the point. Hunting scenes, marine subjects, mythological panels, gladiatorial combat and depictions of daily life, lifted from the villas and displayed in reconstructed room settings, with several houses excavated in situ beside the museum.

The amphitheatre nearby is the reason most visitors come — the third largest in the Roman world, seating perhaps 35,000 in a town that no longer justifies it, extraordinarily well preserved with its arcades and underground chambers intact, and used as a location in Life of Brian and Gladiator.

Museum and amphitheatre are visited together.

Bookable options include half-day trips covering both. Current availability is listed below.