Aït Benhaddou

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Aït Benhaddou
Official name	Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou
Location	Morocco
Criteria	Cultural: (iv), (v)
Reference	444
Inscription	1987 (11th Session)
Area	3.03 ha (0.0117 sq mi)
Buffer zone	16.32 ha (0.0630 sq mi)
Coordinates	31°2′50″N 7°7′44″W
Location of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco

Aït Benhaddou (Berber languages: ⴰⵢⵜ ⵃⴰⴷⴷⵓ; Arabic: آيت بن حدّو) is an ighrem (fortified village in English) (ksar in Arabic), along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco. Most citizens attracted by the tourist trade live in more modern dwellings in a village on the other side of the river, although there are four families still living in the ancient village. Inside the walls of the ksar are half a dozen (Kasbahs) or merchants houses and other individual dwellings, and is a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture.

Aït Benhaddou has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Films shot at Aït Benhaddou

Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, in May 2008

Several films have been shot in Aït Benhaddou, 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.

Gallery

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See also

• Tourism in Morocco