Welcome to the Ouarzazate City
Ouarzazate
Where the roads between
the Drâa, Dadès and Ziz valleys cross, Ouarzazate marks the beginning of
the great journey by dazzaling the traveller with two magnificent
kasbahs.
Taourirt, the former residence of the Glaoui, is
frighteningly beautiful. A series of towers rising out of a mass of
closely packed houses, thrusting their turrets into the blue of the sky,
jostling to be first in line to recceive the sun.
Aït Benhaddou is 30 kilometres from the town. Just imagine a
fabulous sand castle transported, as if by magic, to stand in the middle
of a field of flowering almond trees. So beautiful and playing so
artfully with the light that it has often been used as a setting for
films such as"Lawrence of Arabia" and "Un Thé au Sahara". Indeed, this
kasbah is so exceptional that UNESCO has given it world heritage status.
Arabic: warzāzāt
City in south-central Morocco with 60,000 inhabitants (2005 estimate).
Ouarzazate is situated in the interior of the country, south
of the High Atlas mountains, at an elevation of 1,135 metres.
Ouarzazate has been formed to become the centre of Sahara
tourism, and the place has many luxury hotels. Ouarzazate has also
served as the centre of international film makers, when shooting desert
and semidesert scenes. Among famous films shot around Ouarzazate we find
The Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and The Sheltering Sky. Ouarzazate has
an international airport.
History
19th century: The Glaoui family gets control of the region, and
settles in the Taourirt kasbah.
1928: Ouarzazate is established as a French garrison and administrative
centre, right north of Taourirt.