Tunis Village in El Fayoum Oasis
Tunis Village in El Fayoum Oasis
Tunis village is a small beautiful place inside the oasis of Fayoum, on the way to Wadi Al Rayan, it is located on a hill overlooking a wonderful view of the edge of the desert on the other side of a large saltwater lake. It’s considered one of the most beautiful and natural places in Egypt.
Not long ago, it was a small fishing village on the southern shore of ‘’Lake Qaroun’’. Although it may resemble thousands of other Egyptian villages, Tunis village has its very different charm and unique vibes. It a so small, extraordinary, and one of the most peaceful places in the country.
The village was founded in 1980 by a Swiss female potter named Evelyn Porret who visited Egypt and specially Fayoum with some Egyptian friends of hers. A short while after, she decided to come to Tunis village and then made the decision of building her dream country house on this land. The house was designed with a primitive ceiling shape, using eco-friendly building materials. It obviously was an inspiration by the designs of Hassan Fathi who was the dean of contemporary architects.
The potter’s country house has encouraged other people to visit the place and to build their own houses in the small old fishing village following the steps of the Swiss woman.
Then she founded a pottery studio in the new country house. In the beginning, the children of the village would visit discovering, out of curiosity, to see and know what is going on in the place they hear about. Some of the kids and their families looked quite interested in the new foreign woman’s work, which made her more encouraged to help them dig inside for the talents they had. Little by little she also built her pottery school on the land of the same charming village.
As the years went on, the poor fishing village became a reputable center of modern pottery and an open-air museum established with eco-friendly and traditional rural materials, the thing that was attractive for investors and entrepreneurs to start to provide the village with various facilities in order to cover the unstoppable demand on the village activities.
