Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia: war over zellige

Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are fighting over the paternity of zellige, the ornamental ceramic tile. Among these three North African countries, who really invented zellige?

Algeria tried to dribble Morocco and Tunisia by filing on April 18 a file entitled “Art of architectural ornamentation in zellige: knowledge and skills” for its inscription on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity of UNESCO. An initiative that provoked strong reactions in Morocco and Tunisia which also claim the art of zellige. As a reminder, Morocco had filed a file with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2012 to appropriate the ceramic tile.