{"id":44699,"date":"2026-09-01T14:09:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/?p=44699"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:17:13","slug":"histoire-et-architecture-des-maisons-bleues-et-blanches-de-sidi-bou-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/histoire-et-architecture-des-maisons-bleues-et-blanches-de-sidi-bou-said\/","title":{"rendered":"History and architecture of Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd's blue and white houses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The blue and white of Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd owe nothing to chance. Behind this striking colour harmony lies a decision made over a century ago \u2014 one that shaped the face the village still wears today, and which earned Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Founding Decree, in 1915<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 1915, at the initiative of Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger, a decree established blue and white as the only permitted colours for the village's fa\u00e7ades, and banned any unregulated construction on the promontory. This regulation made Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd one of the very first sites in the world to benefit from such strict architectural protection. A century on, the rule is still followed to the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Legacy of Baron d'Erlanger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A French-British painter and musicologist, Rodolphe d'Erlanger settled in Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd in 1909 and built his palace there, Ennejma Ezzahra, completed in 1922. This residence, blending traditional Andalusian architecture with modernist lines, became the aesthetic template for the entire village: horseshoe arches, mashrabiyas, interior courtyards and colourful ceramics reaching up to the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Arab-Andalusian Architecture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The houses of Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd blend Arab and Andalusian influences: central courtyards, T-shaped reception rooms, slender columns, arcades and walls covered in painted ceramics. Seen from the outside, they show only plain white fa\u00e7ades \u2014 it's within that the decorative richness reveals itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Heritage Now Recognised by UNESCO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In July 2026, this architectural rigour and this identity, preserved for over a century, led UNESCO to inscribe the village on the World Heritage List, in recognition of its exceptional testimony to a Mediterranean cultural and artistic tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sleeping Within the Spirit of the Village<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Maison Dedine belongs to this same architectural tradition, between intimate courtyards and the white-and-blue lines characteristic of the village. To stay here is to inhabit, for the length of a journey, the very history of Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pourquoi Sidi Bou Sa\u00efd est-il enti\u00e8rement bleu et blanc ? D\u00e9couvrez l&rsquo;histoire du d\u00e9cret fondateur et l&rsquo;architecture qui ont fa\u00e7onn\u00e9 ce village aujourd&rsquo;hui class\u00e9 \u00e0 l&rsquo;UNESCO.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44702,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44699\/revisions\/44702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.maisondedine.tn\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}