Tipaza Province
Tipasa (UNESCO) and Cherchell (ancient Caesarea): Roman Algeria's showcase. Juba II and Cleopatra Selene II's tomb still stands. 2,000 years of Mediterranean history.
Tipaza Province contains two of Algeria's most important Roman sites: Tipasa itself (UNESCO World Heritage since 1982) and Cherchell, the ancient Caesarea Mauritania. Together they tell the story of Rome's western Mediterranean.
Tipasa began as a Punic trading post—its necropolis is one of the oldest and most extensive in the Carthaginian world. Emperor Claudius transformed it into a military colony for conquering the Mauretanian kingdoms. At its height, the city reached 20,000 inhabitants and held three major basilicas: the Great Basilica, Basilica Alexander, and Basilica of St. Salsa. In 372 AD, Tipasa served as the base for Rome's counterattack against the Berber rebel Firmus after he overran Caesarea and Icosium (Algiers).
Twenty kilometers west, Cherchell was ancient Iol, refounded by Juba II and renamed Caesarea to honor Augustus. Juba II built his mausoleum here for himself and his wife Cleopatra Selene II—daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. The tomb still stands. Cherchell's museum displays their marble busts: a Berber king and an Egyptian-Greek princess ruling Rome's African frontier. The province preserves what they built—or what remains after 2,000 years of reuse, abandonment, and archaeological rescue.