When night falls over these thousand-year-old stones, Tunisia lights up its most beautiful stages. This summer 2026, the Roman amphitheaters of Carthage and El Jem and the ancient theater of Oudhna return to their original purpose: bringing crowds together around live performance.
The season is marked by a major event: the International Carthage Festival celebrates its 60th edition, running from July 16 to August 19, 2026. Around it, two other gatherings bring ancient heritage back to life: the El Jem International Symphonic Music Festival and the Oudhna International Folk Arts Festival. Here is our notebook of the Tunisian cultural summer, stage by stage.
Carthage Blows Out Sixty Candles
An institution among institutions, the International Carthage Festival celebrates its 60th edition this year, on the tiered seating of the Roman theater overlooking the Bay of Tunis — where the echo of ancient Carthage still resounds. According to African Manager, the program runs from July 16 to August 19, 2026; six decades after its creation, the festival remains the beating heart of the Tunisian cultural summer.
The opening night on July 16 set the tone. According to Leaders' account, it was entrusted to Saber Rebai, who created a show titled “Taht al Yasmine.” The Tunisian artist invited master singer Lotfi Bouchnak and the “king of raï” Cheb Khaled, alongside rising young voices of the national scene — a way of saying that Arabic song is passed on as much as it is celebrated.
Established voices, rising talents, and as a setting, the tiers of a two-thousand-year-old theater: in Carthage, heritage is not visited, it is sung.
El Jem: When Symphony Inhabits the Colosseum
Further south, the El Jem amphitheater — one of the best-preserved Roman colosseums in the world — hosts the 39th edition of its International Symphonic Music Festival, from July 11 to August 15. Réalités reports that an Iberian highlight was scheduled for July 18 at 10 p.m., featuring the Spanish ensemble Camerata Barcelona and its concert “Colores de España.”
The contrast is what makes the site so charming: beneath the vaults that once witnessed the games of Antiquity, it is now the strings and brass of a European repertoire that resound. Proof that a monument is never so well preserved as when it continues to serve a purpose.
Oudhna: Folk Heritage in the Spotlight
Finally, the archaeological site of Oudhna, in the Ben Arous governorate, hosts the 2nd edition of the International Folk Arts Festival, from July 22 to August 2, 2026, on its ancient theater. Held under the aegis of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the event honors folk music and dance — a facet of Tunisia's intangible heritage too often left in the shadow of the big headliners.
According to La Presse, the opening night on July 22 brings together Egyptian star Ahmed Chiba, followed by ten more evenings devoted to folk repertoire, until the closing on August 2 with Hédi Habouba. Turning an archaeological site into a living stage: that is exactly the thread that connects these three festivals, from our Roman archaeological sites to today's summer nights.
