Ouarzazate

Ouarzazate is a city in southern Morocco that is also called the gateway to the desert, and the capital of the province of the same name. Située à la rencontre des vallées de l'oued Ouarzazate et de l'oued Dades (issus du Haut Atlas) qui forment l'oued Draa à l'aval de leur confluent, elle est le centre névralgique Located at the meeting of the river valleys of Ouarzazate and Dades river (from the High Atlas) that make up the Draa river downstream of their confluence, it is the nerve center a vast region of southern Morocco. Ouarzazate évoque à la fois les contreforts sud du Haut Atlas et la proximité du désert. Ouarzazate evokes both the southern foothills of the High Atlas and the nearby desert.

His countless casbahs mud, mountains and arid plains, valleys and lush oasis, palm groves and villages of red earth or ocher are the charm of this region and give it a tourist attraction.

The city symbol is the kasbah Taourirt which belonged to the Pasha El Glaoui, it was built in the mid eighteenth century. It is represented in the new notes of 50 Dirhams. XVIIIe siècle. Elle est représentée dans les nouveaux billets de 50 Dirhams.

Founded in 1928 by the French colonial power, has long been a garrison town. Sur le plan militaire elle a servi de base d'aviation contre la fameuse tribu des Ait Attas qui ont combattu farouchement contre les troupes de Henri de Bournazel, ( l'homme au manteau rouge , tué au Maroc en 1933), jusqu'en 1934 où le chef rebelle Assou Oubasslam se rendit aux Français pour éviter le massacre des populations retranchées dans les montagnes. Militarily it was the basis of air power against the famous tribe of Ait Attas who fought fiercely against the troops of Henry of Bournazel, (the man in red coat, killed in Morocco in 1933) until 1934 where the rebel leader Assou Oubasslam went to the French to prevent the massacre of the people entrenched in the mountains.

Today the town of Ouarzazate is booming in terms of tourism and film. Elle est en particulier l'un des sites marocains les plus prisés par les réalisateurs de cinéma. It is especially one of the sites in Morocco's most popular with film directors. Y ont été ainsi tournés, partiellement ou entièrement: Lawrence d'arabie , Kundun , Gladiator , Alexandre le Grand , Astérix et Cléopâtre , La Momie , Kingdom of heaven , Babel etc. Y have been shot and partially or totally: Lawrence of Arabia, Kundun, Gladiator, Alexander the Great, Asterix and Cleopatra, The Mummy, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel etc..