Souk Edabaghine, Traditional leather market in Medina, Tunisia.
Souk Edabaghine is a leather market in the Medina quarter of Tunis, where narrow lanes are filled with workshops and stalls. Shoes, bags, and other leather goods are made in open-front shops where craftspeople work openly at their trades.
The market took shape during the medieval period and has kept its original street layout, which still shapes the flow through the old city today. For centuries it served as a major trading hub connecting merchants from Europe and North Africa.
In the narrow lanes, you see leather workers at their benches processing hides and shaping leather by hand, just as their ancestors did centuries ago. The workshops and shops reflect how this place has remained the heart of leather craftsmanship in Tunis.
The market is easiest to visit in the early morning when the air is fresh and the workshops are just beginning their day. Most visitors do not speak Arabic or French, but the craftspeople are used to foreigners and are happy to help.
Some of the oldest tanning processes are still carried out here in the same vats that have been used for generations. The materials used, such as olive juice and natural dyes, are so traditional that the techniques differ little from those of hundreds of years ago.
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