By Michael Mainville

TRIPOLI, Sep 30, 2011 (AFP) - Once one of the most feared and secretive places in Tripoli, Moamer Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound is now teeming with curious Libyans -- a testament to how much the country has changed in a month.

Surrounded by green walls topped with turrets and barbed wire, the six-square-kilometre (2.3-square-mile) compound south of Tripoli city centre was the seat of Kadhafi's power for decades.

It was so feared, Tripoli residents say, that people driving past the compound would stop talking and stare straight ahead to avoid looking in its direction.

Bombed by NATO jets as part of the alliance's air campaign in Libya, it was seized by fighters from the National Transitional Council (NTC) following fierce battles on August 23.

Many at the time believed Kadhafi was inside, but he was not found and still remains at large.

Just weeks later, hundreds of Libyans are visiting the compound every day, streaming in to finally see behind the walls.

"This is a place we were always afraid of; before you would never want to be inside," said Esra Kamel, a 22-year-old Tripoli student touring the site with her aunt.

"Now anyone can just walk in. It's amazing."

Connected by a maze of streets, dozens of buildings fill the compound, including Kadhafi's personal residence, a private hospital and housing for his coterie of personal guards.

Most of the buildings now lie in ruins, heavily damaged during the fighting and then razed and looted after the fall of Tripoli. The walls are covered with graffiti in Arabic and English, reading "Free Libya!" and "Kadhafi: Game Over".

Visitors step over broken glass, charred rubble and shattered concrete as they tour the site, peering into dark rooms and picking up cartridges from the siege of the compound.

Torn pages from Kadhafi's "Green Book" -- the 1975 tract that set out his political philosophy and was required reading for Libyans -- lie scattered on the floors.

In the lush gardens dotted with enormous palm trees, the grass is turning to mud as cars drive freely throughout the compound. Entrances to underground bunkers and what are reportedly kilometres (miles) of tunnels lie in fields, their heavy iron doors thrown open.

Children play in the concrete shell of Kadhafi's original residence in the compound, which was bombed by US planes in 1986 and left ruined as a symbol of his resistance.

The famed monument outside the building -- an enormous sculpture showing a gold fist crushing a US fighter jet -- was torn down by NTC fighters when the compound was taken.

Walking nearby, Mohammed Fathi Musba had brought his three- and four-year-old daughters to see the compound.

"It feels very strange to be here; this was such a secret place," he said. "I brought my daughters here to show them how much has changed ... God willing, we will never have another Kadhafi."

Despite being keen to finally see inside Bab al-Aziziya, Libyans touring the site said they would like to eventually see the entire place razed to the ground.

"They should tear it all down and turn it into a park for the people of Tripoli," Kamel said.

"It should be a garden for the people of Libya," said visitor Abdulmajit Khafaji, 39. "Kadhafi is gone, Bab al-Aziziya should go too."

mm/al/pvh