Aït Benhaddou

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv, v
Reference	444
UNESCO region	Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription	1987 (11th Session)

Aït Benhaddou (Berber: 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 it 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

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See also

• Tourism in Morocco

References

1. UNESCO World Heritage Sites Ref 444

External links

• UNESCO World Heritage Sites Ref 444

Coordinates: 31°03′N 7°08′W / 31.050°N 7.133°W