Located at 30km at north of Ouarzazate, the Ksar Aït Ben Haddou is classified by UNESCO. The Ksar is also famous because it had been a film set for many famous movies : “The jewel of the Nile”, Lawrence Arabia”, “Alexander”, “Ben Hur”, “A tea in Sahara”…
This Ksar is typical of Southern Morocco architecture : earthen large houses (called “Tighremt” or “Kasbah”) are gathered around a rectangular central courtyard, four fortified wings high, topped with corner towers. Most of the houses are composed in the same way : the ground floor is used for agriculture and the upper floors as housing in winter and summer ; the terraced houses are inhabited by agricultural workers.
Furthermore, there are buildings and community spaces : marketplace, mosque, madrasa ( Muslim school, college, or university)… Moreover, there are shops where we can find Moroccan and Berber jewels, paintings, textile…
Source : http://www.kasbah-ait-ben-haddou.com/en/
A scene filmed at Ksar Aït Ben Haddou in the movie “The jewel of the Nile” :