2019-10-07 Mon

Tunisia is a North African country bordering the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. In the capital, Tunis, the Bardo Museum has archaeological exhibits from Roman mosaics to Islamic art. The city’s medina quarter encompasses the massive Al-Zaytuna Mosque and a thriving souk. To the east, the site of ancient Carthage features the Antonine Baths and other ruins, plus artifacts at the Carthage National Museum. Its northernmost point, Cape Angela, is the northernmost point on the African continent.

Tunisia is an export-oriented country in the process of liberalizing and privatizing an economy. The franc was the currency of Tunisia between 1891 and 1958. It was divided into 100 centimes and was equivalent to the French franc. In 1903, the Banque de l'Algérie introduced 5 franc notes with the overprint "Tunisie".

The note in the image alongside is a 50 franc banknote in use from 1938-1945. The obverse has a man wearing fez (a flat-topped conical red hat with a black tassel on top, worn by men in some Muslim countries (formerly the Turkish national headdress) with a veiled woman looking over at a village scene. The back depicts the ruins of El Djem Amphitheatre in El Djem, Tunisia, with a scene of produce sellers with donkeys. This multi-coloured note has a woman's face profile in national headdress/Ancient goddess Isis as its watermark.

Image Courtesy: PicClick