Ait Benhaddou, Morocco's UNESCO Kasbah

Ait Benhaddou was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. UNESCO's listing recognizes it as an outstanding example of the earthen architecture (pisé, or rammed mudbrick) typical of southern Morocco, and one of the last ksour — fortified villages — of this kind to survive in something close to its original form, since most others along the same historic trade route have crumbled or been abandoned. The ksar's defensive layout — tightly packed kasbahs behind a single fortified perimeter, with a communal granary at the highest point for use during sieges — reflects a time when settlements along this caravan route needed to protect goods moving between the Sahara and Marrakech. Ongoing restoration work, partly UNESCO-supported, is what keeps the mudbrick structures standing today, since untreated pisé construction is vulnerable to erosion from Morocco's occasional heavy rains.

Ait Benhaddou's dramatic, timeless architecture has made it one of the most filmed locations in Morocco, standing in for ancient settings from Rome to the Middle East. Two well-documented productions filmed here are Gladiator (2000), which used the kasbah as a backdrop for scenes of a North African provincial town, and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), one of the earliest major international productions to film in and around the kasbah, helping establish Morocco as a filming destination for desert settings. Ait Benhaddou is also often associated with other film and TV productions shot in the wider Ouarzazate area — ask your guide on the day which exact scenes, if any, used Ait Benhaddou itself.