The small North African nation of Tunisia is home to many jewels, but few stand out like the Villa Sebastian in the city of Hammamet on the Mediterranean Sea.

Considered by international architects as one of the most beautiful villas on the Mediterranean. The Villa from 1932 to 1962 was home to artists, intellectuals, and the titans of the world. Paul Klee, Andre Gide, Marshall Rommel, and Winston Churchill are just a few of the people who once called the Villa Sebastian home.

It was built in 1932 by George Sebastian (hence the Villa Sebastian). Messer Sebastian’s botanical gardens encompass 14 acres and over 300 species of plants, as testament to the diversity of nature in Hammamet and Tunisia as a whole.

The Villa is no longer a private residence by a museum that greets thousands of visitors a year. It was bought in 1962 by the Tunisian government and made to be an International Culture Center. The Villa and surrounding gardens are well-preserved and worth any trip to Tunis.