Avenue Habib Bourguiba (Tunisian Arabic: شارع حبيب بورڨيبة) is the central thoroughfare of Tunis, and the historical political and economic heart of Tunisia.
Today, the broad Avenue aligned in an east-west direction, lined with trees and facades of shops, and fronted with street cafes on both sides, and which is compared to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, and its extension, the Avenue de France, Place de l'Indépendance marking the central roundabout with Lake of Tunis at the eastern end.
During the protests of 2011, many demonstrations calling for the downfall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and that of the national unity government were held on the avenue.
Sixty meters wide, it has two unpaved roads on both sides of a median strip planted with, until 2001, a quadruple range of ficus trees (reduced to two rows in a major 2000–2001 renovation).
At its centre stands a statue of the Tunisian philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldoun, looking towards the Avenue Habib Bourguiba and lake beyond.
[12] It had originally been intended for the statue to be erected on June 1, 1978, on the anniversary of Habib Bourguiba's return to Tunis after the French colonialism, but it did not take place until July 3.