Muhammad Khaznadar

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.

He complained about the limited public access to the museum, such that it had “acquired the mysterious reputation of containing the greatest rarities of pagan and Christian literature”.

[13] Taher Ghalia, Chief Curator of the Bardo, wrote that the foundation of the modern national museum by decree, on 25 March 1885, followed from the 1876–1877 “patrimonialization” policy of Hayreddin Pasha, who had succeeded Mustapha Khaznadar as Prime Minister.

Hayreddin Pasha regulated archaeological work and ordered “the seizure of Mhammed Khaznadar’s private collection which was acquired fraudulently”.