Muhammad Khaznadar (1840–1929) was an early archaeologist in Ottoman Tunisia. He was the eldest son of Mustapha Khaznadar, a prominent Prime Minister of Tunisia who served from 1855 until 1873.[1]
Khaznadar was the first Tunisian to propose the founding of a museum, located in the Bardo Palace in the town of Manouba just outside Tunis.[2] His collection was to form the kernel of the Bardo National Museum. Khaznadar's work also influenced the development of cultural policies in Tunisia in the years leading up to the establishment of the French protectorate in 1881.[3]
As a native North African at the forefront of archaeology during the time of European colonialism, he has been compared to the Ottoman Osman Hamdi Bey and the Egyptian Rifa'a at-Tahtawi.[4]
- ^ Moumni 2020, p. 266.
- ^ Moumni 2020, p. 272: "He became the first Tunisian to propose the founding of a museum. At that point, no “public” museum existed in the regency of Tunisia, except for François Bourgade’s collection of antiquities in the enclosure of the Chapel of Saint-Louis in Carthage. Muhammad’s project thus represents a crucial moment in the history of collecting in Tunisia. Notably, the location intended for this museum was not Muhammad’s own house in Carthage, but rather the Bardo Palace, his father’s main residence located in the neighboring town of La Manouba."
- ^ Moumni 2020, pp. 278–280.
- ^ Moumni 2020, p. 282.