This is a multiple UNESCO site that I really liked because it requires a mental connection between several places that are several dozen kilometers apart from each other. Upstream, the catchment areas called nymphaeums or water temples, of which the one at Zaghouan is a part, downstream in Carthage the cisterns of the Maalga and the Antonine baths, and between the two the Zaghouan aqueduct itself.

The aqueduct has nothing to envy of that of the Pont du Gard in France, which is 48 m high and 50 km long; that of Zaghouan is 34 m at its highest for a length which totals almost three times that of the Pont du Gard, which is a technical feat comparable to the amphitheater of El-Djem.

But what is most interesting about Zaghouan is precisely the interconnection between these three elements: the capture of the water source, its transport, and its use in Carthage.
I discuss the Antonine Baths on the page dedicated to Carthage.

Coming from Tunis, a beautiful, long, aerial section of the aqueduct is visible along the P3 road. It's hard to miss, as it marks the landscape. It's worth turning off the road to the left when the aqueduct bends and following it until the road leaves it. It's established that the aqueduct supplied water to the city of Carthage, but what about agriculture? It seems not.

The Zaghouan Water Temple is located a little outside the city of the same name, at the foot of the Jebel. The site is not lacking in majesty and offers visitors a breathtaking 180° view. Not much remains of the temple itself, but enough to mentally reconstruct the building. It's also far from everything, and there's no entrance ticket; it's free.

The importance given to water management in the Roman era (2nd century AD) disconcerts me when one thinks of the economic and geopolitical stakes that water exploitation will have in the near future. Ultimately, this material testimony seems to me to be topical and this topicality gave my visit a special character. The proposal for inclusion on the World Heritage List of this multiple site seems justified to me, I do not believe that there is anywhere else as complete and coherent an example of water management dating from the Roman era?

Finally, I would like to point out, to close this chapter on our trip to UNESCO sites in Tunisia, that we were able to tick the box for intangible universal cultural heritage: "Knowledge, know-how and practices related to the production and consumption of couscous" at the Dar Zaghouan guesthouse during a delicious meal of lamb couscous based on a local recipe.