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Excursion Ait Ben Haddou

Ait Ben Haddou (Berber: Ath Benhaddou) is a walled city, or ksar, along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in Morocco today.
Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou is a striking example of South Moroccan architecture. The Ksar is an essentially collective group of housing. Inside the defensive walls reinforced by corner towers and pierced by a baffle gate houses regroup - some modest, others look like small urban castles with their high towers corner and upper sections decorated patterns in clay brick - but there are also community buildings and areas. It is an extraordinary complex of buildings that offer a complete panorama of construction techniques in pre-Saharan land. Older buildings do not seem to be prior to the 17th century, although their structure and technique were propagated from a very early period in the valleys of southern Morocco. The site was also one of the many trading posts on the ancient trade route linking Sudan to Marrakech by the Dra valley and the Tizi-n'Telouet.
Ksar Ait Ben Haddou is a perfect synthesis of earthen architecture of pre-Saharan regions of Morocco.
It is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage since 1987. He was nicknamed "Mont Saint-Michel of Chleuhs" during the French protectorate.
Gallery Ait Ben Haddou



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