Aït Benhaddou
Appearance
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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Criteria | Cultural: iv, v |
Reference | 444 |
Inscription | 1987 (11th Session) |
Aït Benhaddou (Berber: Ath Benhadu, Arabic: آيت بن حدّو) is a fortified city, or palace (ksar), along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco. Most citizens living in the area now live in more modern dwellings in a nearby village, although there are 4 families still living in the ancient city. This giant fortification, which is made up of six forts (Kasbahs) and nearly fifty palaces which are individual forts, is a great example of earthen clay architecture, which is also used in Moroccan architecture.
Aït Benhaddou has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987[1] and several films have been shot there, including:
- Sodom And Gomorrah (1963)
- Oedipus Rex (1967)
- The Man Who Would Be King (film) (1975)
- The Message (1976)
- Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
- Time Bandits (1981)
- Marco Polo (1982)
- The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
- The Living Daylights (1987)
- The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
- The Sheltering Sky (1990)
- Kundun (1997)
- The Mummy (1999)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Alexander (2004)
- Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
- Babel (2006)
- One Night with the King (2006)
- Prince of Persia (2010)
- Son of God (film) (2014)
Also used in parts of the TV series Game of Thrones.
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Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, in May 2008
See also
References
External links
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