Hussein II Bey authorised the French consul-general to build a cathedral on the site of ancient Carthage, to determine where it would be situated, and to take all the land necessary for the project. His words were: The consul charged his son Jules with this duty, who concluded that the chapel ought to be built on Byrsa Hill, in the centre of the Punic acropolis, where the temple of
Aesculapius was once located. Descendants of crusaders' families, companions of the sovereign, helped finance the construction. Built between 1884 and 1890, under the
French protectorate, the cathedral acquired
primacy for all of
Africa when the title of primate of Africa was restored for the benefit of
Cardinal Lavigerie, titular of the Archdioceses of
Algiers and of
Carthage, united in his person. The building was consecrated with great pomp in the presence of numerous ecclesiastical dignitaries. Cardinal Lavigerie dedicated the church to
Saint Louis, who died on that approximate spot during the Eighth Crusade in 1270. After his death in 1892, Cardinal Lavigerie was buried there and a funerary monument was erected in his memory. However, his body now lies in the General Curia of the
White Fathers, in
Rome. In 1964, the
Modus Vivendi—a bilateral treaty between Tunisia and the Catholic Church—ceded almost all of the Church's real estate holdings to the Tunisian state, including the Acropolium. The space has been a cultural centre since 1992. ==Architecture==