The National Bardo Museum in Tunis, where gunmen have killed at least 17 foreign tourists, is Tunisia's national showcase for ancient treasures and is renowned for its exceptional collection of mosaics.
Unique in the scope of its holdings, the museum boasts objects from prehistory, the Phoenician period and Punic and Numidian times, as well artefacts from the Roman, Christian and Islamic eras.
A new wing opened in 2012, doubling the floor space to 23,000 square metres, after a 10 million euro ($A14 million) face lift.
The Bardo also reorganised its collection, to better highlight its exceptional heritage.
Among the most prized works of the collection is The Triumph of Neptune, a 2nd century mosaic.
Originally exhibited on the floor, it was put on the wall of the new entrance hall, making it the largest vertical mosaic in the world.
Adjoining the parliament building in Tunis, and housed in a 19th century palace, the museum greets hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The record was 600,000 in 2005.
In 2011 - the year of the popular revolt that toppled president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and triggered the Arab Spring - only 100,000 people visited the Bardo.
Tourism, a key sector for the Tunisian economy, has been severely affected by the political crisis unleashed by the revolt and by the expansion of jihadist movements.
In 2014, tourism revenues rose 6.4 per cent to 1.6 billion euros, but that increase was far from the 14.5 per cent record achieved in 2010.
In contrast, the number of tourists dropped by 3.2 per cent to 6.07 million.
