Aït Benhaddou

Ait-Ben - Haddou (Arabic آيت بن حدو, also transcribed Aït Benhaddou ) is a ksar ( fortified village ) at the foot of the High Atlas in the south-eastern Morocco.

Location

The place is located more than 100 km southeast of Marrakech, or about 30 miles away on a mountain slope in approximately 1300 meters height on the shore of the northwest of the city of Ouarzazate - mostly dried out - Asif Mellah. Along the river still grow date palms, but due to the cool high altitude no more fruitfulness, their fibrous stems but in earlier times in the construction of ceilings and staircases ( ramps) in the Tighremts played an important role; from the palm leaves mats, baskets, ropes were braided and the like.

History

The site was the capital of the clan ( Ait ) Ben Haddou. These controlled the time of the Almoravids in the 11th century at Asif Mellah trade on the ancient caravan route between Timbuktu and Marrakech. The most part of rammed earth and - in southern Morocco rather rare air-dried - but built mud-brick ksar is likely to be more recent. The details vary according to literature from the 12th to the 16th century. Also, the number of residents can not be made exact, but up to 1000 people being spoken, said to have lived in Aït Benhaddou.

Architecture

The old village consists of several closely built and partially nested residential castles ( Tighremts ). Their mud walls rest on natural rock or larger or smaller boulders. The buildings with their turrets and battlements give the town its bulit appearance, which is enhanced by the hillside. Most corner towers were decorated with geometric motifs in the upper part, where the recurring diamond motifs can be interpreted as abstracted eyes, and had probably originally an apotropaic ( apotropaic ) function. The originally completely windowless Tighremts of Ait Benhaddou are all built around interior courtyards, through which light and air into the stables and storerooms on the ground floor as well as in the living or sleeping quarters could reach the upper floors. It is striking that the old Ksar is dominated by no minaret. In the regions inhabited by Berbers villages in the south of Morocco, although there was a simple prayer rooms, but was abandoned outside the cities (Marrakech, Taroudant, Tiznit ) on the construction of minarets. On the hill above the Ksar is a - in the 17th century to better control the population built - Kasbah.

Today's state

In the past, talked decay and rebuilding the balance, but the years diminishing or completely lack of rainfall with resulting decline in water level, the migration of young people to the cities, the weather and the added burden of ever increasing tourist flows to question the continuing existence However, the settlement in question. The transition from the village to the museum seems irreversible in this context. How long the site - given the enormous conservation effort for the mud buildings - will be at least partially inhabited, is unclear. For the film Jesus of Nazareth, a large part of Ait-Ben - Haddou was restored in the late 1970s. According to recent statements (April 2012 ) of a local guide the transfer of power is planned. Then do some of the families who are currently living in the " Neudorf " resettle again. The two bottom right to be seen in the foreground gates were built as a film set (wood, styrofoam, resin ) in order to enhance the effect of the closed city image through the actual measure beyond.

Importance

Despite the crowds and the ever re- homing filmmakers from around the world Ait Benhaddou is one of the very few still reasonably well-preserved clay building settlements in southern Morocco. Became famous Ait-Ben - Haddou by its inclusion in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1987 as a film set (eg Sodom and Gomorrah by Robert Aldrich or Gladiator by Ridley Scott).

Ait-Ben - Haddou as a film set

Ait-Ben - Haddou served as a backdrop for more than 20 Hollywood productions, including:

• Sodom and Gomorrah (1962 )
• Lawrence of Arabia ( 1962)
• The Bible (film )
• The Man Who Would Be King (1975 )
• Jesus of Nazareth (1977 )
• Romancing 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)
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Environment

In the wider area of Ait Benhaddou, there are other architectural sites (see links).