M'ZAB GHARDAIA ALGERIA

Located 600 km south of Algiers, in the heart of the Sahara Desert, the five ksour (fortified villages) of the M'Zab Valley form an extraordinarily homogenous ensemble constituting, in the desert, the mark of a sedentary and urban civilization possessing an original culture that has, through its own merit, preserved its cohesion throughout the centuries. Comprised of ksour and palm groves of El-Atteuf, Bounoura, Melika, Ghardaïa and Beni-Isguen (founded between 1012 and 1350), the M'Zab Valley has conserved practically the same way of life and the same building techniques since the 11th century, ordered as much by a specific social and cultural context, as by the need for adaptation to a hostile environment, the choice of which responded to a historic need for withdrawal and a defensive imperative. Each of these miniature citadels, surrounded by walls, is dominated by a mosque, the minaret of which functions as a watchtower. The mosque is conceived as a fortress, the last bastion of resistance in the event of a siege, and comprises an arsenal and a grain store. Around this building, which is essential for communal life, are houses built in concentric circles up to the ramparts. Each house constitutes a cubic cell of standard type, illustrating an egalitarian society founded on the respect for the family structure, aiming at the preservation of its intimacy and autonomy. At the beginning of the first millennium, the Ibadis created in the M'Zab, with local materials, a vernacular architecture which, with its perfect adaptation to the environment and the simplicity of its forms, is an example and an influence for contemporary architecture and town-planning.
Criterion (ii): The anthropic ensembles of the M'Zab Valley bear witness, by their exceedingly original architecture dating from the beginning of the 11th century and by their rigour and organization, to an outstanding and original occupation model for human settlements of the cultural area of central Sahara. This model settlement has exercised considerable influence for nearly a millennium on Arab architecture and town-planning, including architects and town-planners of the 20th century, from Le Corbusier to Fernand Pouillon and André Raverau.
Criterion (iii): The three elements constituting the urban ensembles and settlements of the M'Zab Valley: ksar, cemetary, and palm grove with its summer citadel, are an exceptional testimony of the Ibadis culture at its height and the egalitarian principle that was meticulously applied by the Mozabite society.
Criterion (v): The elements constituting the M'Zab Valley are an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, representative of the Ibadis culture that, through the ingenious system for the capture and distribution of water and the creation of palm groves, demonstrates the extremely efficient human interaction with a semi-desert environment.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/188

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• M'ZAB
• GHARDAIA
• ALGERIA

[clif9710]

less than one second straight cuts don't allow the viewer to even realize what is being seen before it is gone. To make the entire video this way can only leave the viewer with a headache wondering what has just passed before the eyes. For someone who has been there and seen the sights in person this might be a nice way to run through know locations. For the viewer seeking views of the location, it is pure frustration.

[sabramat]

I love Ghardaia .... where Islam entered my heart in 1984 .... Alhamdulillah!