Kbor er Roumia — the tomb of the Christian woman

OVERVIEW

The Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania stands on a hill about 250 m above the sea on the road between Cherchell and Algiers. Built of stone, a circular drum on a square base topped by a cone, it was about 40 m high (30–32 m now) and ringed with 60 Ionic columns. Inside, two vaulted chambers are reached by a passage some 500 feet long, behind stone doors worked by levers. It was built in 3 BC by King Juba II of Mauretania and his queen Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony; their remains have never been found there.

HISTORY

Its names — French Tombeau de la Chrétienne, Arabic Kbor er Roumia, 'tomb of the Christian woman' — come from cross-like divisions on its false door. In the 16th century some Spaniards took it for the tomb of Florinda la Cava, whose rape was said to have led to the Muslim conquest of Iberia. At the end of the 18th century Baba Mahommed tried in vain to destroy it with artillery, and after the conquest the French Navy used it for target practice.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

In 1555 the Pasha of Algiers, Salah Rais, ordered the mausoleum pulled down. Large black wasps swarmed out and stung some of the workers to death, and the effort was abandoned. Recorded as the article gives it.

VISITING

Part of the Tipasa archaeological World Heritage Site, on the List in Danger since 2002 because of urban encroachment, poor maintenance and vandalism.