Taparura

Taparura is a location within the city of Sfax, Tunisia. It was a former Catholic diocese.

Taparura
Taparura from space
Shown within Tunisia
LocationSfax Governorate, Tunisia
Coordinates34°44′20″N 10°46′34″E
TypeSettlement

History

Taparura was originally a civitas (town), within Byzacena[1] during the Roman Empire. The town was also an ancient Christian bishopric, whose seat was resident in that Roman town.[2] [3] Only one bishop of Taparura is known, Limeniano, who attended the Council of Carthage (411). The ancient bishopric survives today,[4] as a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[5] [6] Archaeologists have uncovered a basilica and baptistry.[7]

Taparura is today a modern suburb of Sfax. The modern Taparura is 420 hectares of polluted industrial (phosphogypsy and heavy metals) land located on the coast, impacted by industrial discharges into the adjoining sea.

In 1985 a new development proposal was formulated that would see additional land taken from the Mediterranean, and integrate as an urban park, a beach of three kilometers, as well as residential, commercial and tertiary zones. The first works for its revitalization began in 2006 and consisted of work of depollutions and fillings, the coast of Sfax being affected by the discharges of the phosphate industry .[8][9]

See also
  • Autenti, a nearby Roman settlement
  • Thenae, a nearby Roman settlement

References
  1. Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak (UNC Press Books, 1 Dec. 2000) p36.
  2. J. Patout Burns, Robin M. Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 30 Nov. 2014).
  3. Leo Africanus, Robert Brown, John Pory, The History and Description of Africa: And of the Notable Things Therein (Cambridge University Press, 2010)p785.
  4. Titular Episcopal See of Taparura at GCatholic.org.
  5. Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, (Leipzig, 1931), p. 468.
  6. Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I (Brescia, 1816), p. 306.
  7. Anna Leone, Changing Townscapes in North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Arab Conquest (Edipuglia srl, 2007 )p268.
  8. Stéphanie Wenger, "Tunisia: how Sfax wants to recover its "sea", La Tribune, July 29, 2013
  9. Yassine Bellamine, Tunisie - Sfax-Taparura: Un projet de développement urbain soutenu par l'Union Pour la Méditerranée HuffPost Tunisie 19/08/2015.
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