Guellala

Guellala (Berber: Iqellalen ) is a city Tunisia nne of 7000 inhabitants (Recensement of 2006) located in the south of the island of Jerba.

It has been re-elected in all the country for the know-how of its potters for several centuries. As of the entry of the village, the potteries of Argile paper the Trottoir S and the places and decorate the streets with their colors. Guellala is surrounded by plates from where one can extract the clay which is at the base of the pottery. The need for containers for the transport and the storage of the products of the Agriculture is at the origin of this activity. The traditional pottery djerbienne is known for the manufacture of earthenware jars, being able to reach a capacity of 300 liters, intended for the ensilage of the Céréale S, Datte S and Olive oil. With a less scale, the pottery can be used to make trunks with clothing.

A long time glazed, with dominant of green color, it, since about fifty years, gave up varnishing by loss of know-how and because of the decline of this activity. If one counted 500 potters in the Années 1950, there would not remain about it any more but one forty today and this in spite of the renewal of activity caused by the development of tourism. The pottery which one associates today with Jerba thus has a sober aspect: either red when it is treated with the Fresh water, or white when it is treated with the Sea water.

Guellala is entirely the only center of the island berbérophone. Its inhabitants are Moslem ibadites (kharidjites) and not malikites as the remainder of the Tunisians. The village also shelters the museum of arts and popular traditions of Jerba which is located on a Colline constituting the culminating point of the island (either 52 meters above the sea level).

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