The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia will soon reopen, the Ministry of Culture announced on Tuesday, two years after it was shut down when President Kais Saied shuttered the parliament, which is housed in the same building.

The Bardo, which is housed in a historic palace and has one of the most outstanding collections of ancient Roman mosaics in the world, has undergone some restoration work, but the ministry did not provide a timetable for its reopening.

On July 25, 2021, Saied took the majority of the authority in what his detractors referred to as a coup, sealing both buildings while he rewrote the constitution and organized elections for a new, much less powerful legislature. Saied then dispatched tanks to surround the parliament.

The national museum, one of the primary attractions in the capital of a nation whose economy is dependent on tourism, has remained closed since the new parliament began its job this year.

After the revolution in Tunisia in 2011, the parliament became the most powerful elected body under the new democratic system, and its arcade-ringed chamber served as the setting for some of the most transparent political debates in any Arab nation.

However, when a series of coalition governments failed to produce prosperity, many Tunisians began to blame the parliament and the major political parties for years of economic stagnation and political inaction.

More than 20 people were killed in the Bardo and its surroundings in a terrorist attack in 2015 that was directed against visitors. This was just after the building underwent a significant repair.

Throughout the museum are enormous mosaics with intricate detailing and vibrant colors, including those depicting the Roman sea god Neptune, hunting scenes, and amazing arrays of marine life.

Tunisia is swamped in ancient-era sites and archaeological relics since it was once the home of ancient Carthage and its Punic culture, as well as a significant Roman colony that helped feed the empire.

The Bardo mosaics were taken from the opulent villas constructed during the Roman era and throughout late antiquity, along with others found in the museums at Sousse and by the amphitheater at El-Djem.