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Old Lighthouse
On the waterfront, next to Old Berenice is the square-sided Old Lighthouse which was built during the Italian occupation and remains in use. The waterfront here runs southeast from here for around 700m and has been repaved as a pleasant waterfront corniche.
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Tayibiyeh Sufi School
Wander along Tafarar St, oner of the seven main streets. At the main junction, turn right to the white domed building 50m along on the right. This is the Tayibiyeh Sufi School and is worth visiting for its intimate courtyard and splendid views from the roof.
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Ghazar Square
The lovely uncovered Ghazar Square is surrounded by alcove niches and a balcony encircling the square on the 1st floor. This balcony enabled children to watch the public ceremonies played out in the square below; wedding festivities sometimes lasted for up to 14 days!
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Cemetery
The old Cemetery opposite Bab al-Burr, the main gate to the old city, is filled with thousands of what appear to be unmarked gravestones. However, true to the Ghadames tradition of oral history, the precise identity and location of each grave is passed down from father to son.
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National Library
Immediately east of the cathedral, the continuation of Sharia Mohammed Megharief leads to the domed National Library, which is very photogenic just before sunset. Built in the 1930s, it was the Royal Palace under the monarchy and the Peoples Palace immediately after the revolution.
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Museum
The one-room Cyrene Museum is not a match for the museum at Leptis Magna or Tripoli, but it nonetheless contains a fine collection of Roman statues, tablets and a small gathering of mosaics. Many of the statues are accompanied by useful explanations in English, Italian and Arabic.
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Libyan Studies Centre
Dedicated to cataloguing the repression suffered by Libyans during Italian colonial rule, the Libyan Studies Centre has an impressive collection of 10,000 tapes of oral history and over 100,000 photographs. Theres also a library and reading room, including thousands of books in Eng
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Jamahiriya Museum
Tripolis Jamahiriya Museum houses one of the finest collections of classical art in the Mediterranean. Built in consultation with Unesco at enormous cost, its extremely well designed and the 47 galleries provide a comprehensive overview of all periods of Libyan history, from the Ne
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Old City
The original families still retain ownership over the houses in the Old City and many return regularly to carry out maintenance. Many of the gardens surrounding the covered areas of the city are still in use. In total, the old city consists of around 1600 buildings, which includes
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Temple of the Octagonal Bases
The Temple of the Octagonal Bases (2nd century AD) lies in the southeastern corner of the agora, with the base of four columns remaining. It may have replaced an earlier Greek temple. However, the Roman temple is believed to have been built in honour of Aesculapius, the god of heal
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Intelewan Square
Check out Intelewan Square, where youll most likely find a few souvenir sellers. On the right as you enter is a whitewashed building that was the first non-Quranic school in Ghadames. Modern sciences were studied in the building, which was later used as the Turkish consulate. If yo
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Skyrota
The road running along the southwestern perimeter of the forum was the Skyrota, the main road through the Greek city. Its still lined with impressive columns bearing graven images of Hermes and Hercules. This section was once known as the Portico of the Hermas and the road was to b
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Punic Museum
Around 50m west of the Roman Museum is the Punic Museum, which is only worth the effort if you have an experts interest in the citys earliest history. Exhibits include underground ceramic objects and fragments from Mausoleum B (Mausoleum of Bes), representations of lions, male figu
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Jebel Acacus
The Jebel Acacus is an other-wordly landscape of dark basalt monoliths rising up from the sands of the central Sahara. This World Heritage-listed area is home to unique natural rock formations, as well as prehistoric rock paintings and carvings, some of which date back 12,000 years
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Planetarium
Tripolis Planetarium, east along the waterfront off Sharia al-Corniche, would be a great place to study the stars over Libya before you head south into the star-gazing paradise of the Sahara, were it not for one thing: all presentations are in Arabic only. The 40-minute showings ar
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Tomb of Battus
The Tomb of Battus, the leader of the settlers from Thera and first king of Cyrene, is now thought to lie behind the naval monument on the eastern side of the agora, although there remains some disagreement about this among archaeologists. The founder of the colony has the rare hon
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Severan Forum
Septimius Severus audacious transformation of Leptis involved reconfiguring the heart of the city - moving it away from the old forum to the new one that bore his name. The open-air Severan Forum measured 100m by 60m and its floor was covered with marble. Ancient remnants of former
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Leptis Museum
The Leptis Museum is like a smaller version of the outstanding Jamahiriya Museum - expansive in scope, beautifully laid out and very well organised with informative posters in each room detailing the history of the relevant period - although here many of the individual exhibits are
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Draghut Mosque
The 6th-century Draghut Mosque bears the name of an infamous corsair admiral and governor of Tripoli. Its elegant pillars and arches (there are 15 in the main prayer hall alone with many more in adjoining rooms) are quite stunning. Things to look out for include the green-and-white
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Bab al
The best place to start a ramble around Ghadames is at the main gate of the old city, Bab al-Burr. This was once used by the citys inhabitants; strangers usually entered the main square via Ain al-Faras, meaning that the residential districts were spared from the arrival of unwante
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