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49-839: Ouarzazate is a primary tourist destination in Morocco during the holidays, as well as a starting point for excursions into and across the Draa Valley and the desert. The fortified village Aït Benhaddou west of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The Ouarzazate area is a noted film-making location, with Morocco's biggest studios inviting many international companies to work here. Films such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Living Daylights (1987), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Kundun (1997), Legionnaire (1998), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Salmon Fishing in

98-591: A UNESCO World Heritage Site . Film is a major industry in Ouarazazate and constitute a major part of its economy. Its success is due to the presence of desert landscapes and historical architecture, the availability of trained technicians, low productions costs, and Morocco's streamlined process for obtaining film permits. Most productions are from the USA or Western Europe, but the number of Indian and Chinese productions has also increased in recent years. According to

147-500: A Jewish merchant in the 1800s, and Jeffrey Tayler who wrote a book about his experiences. 28°40′54″N 11°07′13″W  /  28.6817°N 11.1203°W  / 28.6817; -11.1203 UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage around

196-417: A UNESCO report titled "World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate". The Australian government's actions, involving considerable expense for lobbying and visits for diplomats , were in response to their concern about the negative impact that an "at risk" label could have on tourism revenue at a previously designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2021, international scientists recommended UNESCO to put

245-488: A minor boundary change, one that does not have a significant impact on the extent of the property or affect its "outstanding universal value", is also evaluated by the advisory bodies before being sent to the committee. Such proposals can be rejected by either the advisory bodies or the Committee if they judge it to be a significant change instead of a minor one. Proposals to change a site's official name are sent directly to

294-756: A remarkable accomplishment of humankind and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great natural beauty. As of July 2024, a total of 1,223 World Heritage Sites (952 cultural, 231 natural and 40 mixed cultural and natural properties) exist across 168 countries . With 60 selected areas, Italy is the country with the most sites, followed by China with 59, and Germany with 54. The sites are intended for practical conservation for posterity, which otherwise would be subject to risk from human or animal trespassing, unmonitored, uncontrolled or unrestricted access, or threat from local administrative negligence. Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected zones. The World Heritage Sites list

343-1000: A single text was eventually agreed upon by all parties, and the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. The convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of November 2024, it has been ratified by 196 states: 192 UN member states , two UN observer states (the Holy See and the State of Palestine ), and two states in free association with New Zealand (the Cook Islands and Niue ). Only one UN member state, Liechtenstein , has not ratified

392-651: A study published in 2020, about 20 to 50 foreign film and television productions are shot in Ouarzazate every year. In 2017, the heads of Moroccan film studios claimed that about 80 percent of staff used on film productions were Moroccan. Atlas Studios is the largest movie studios in the world in terms of land area. It was established in 1983. Movies were shot here including The Living Daylights , Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra , Lawrence of Arabia , The Man Who Would Be King , The Mummy , Kingdom of Heaven , Gladiator , Hanna , and Babel . It

441-619: Is Morocco 's longest river, at 1,100 kilometres (680 mi). It is formed by the confluence of the Dadès River and Imini River . It flows from the High Atlas mountains, initially south-eastward to Tagounite , and from Tagounite mostly westwards to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean somewhat north of Tan-Tan . In 1971, the (El) Mansour Eddahabi dam was constructed to service the regional capital of Ouarzazate and to regulate

490-516: Is also a Jewish cemetery, which is no longer in use. During the French period, Ouarzazate expanded considerably as a garrison town, administrative centre and customs post and a church (Eglise Saint Therese) was built in 1931. It is home to the Kasbah Taourirt , which was the kasbah of the former caïd and later owned by T'hami El Glaoui . The Krupp field gun which secured Glaoui power

539-585: Is displayed outside the kasbah today. The city was part of the route of the 2006 and 2007 Dakar Rally . The nearby Ouarzazate solar power station , co-funded by the Arab League, was connected to the Moroccan power grid in February 2016. On 1 November 2023, Ouarzazate along with Casablanca joined UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network . Ouarzazate is at an elevation of 1,160 metres (3,810 ft) in

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588-585: Is maintained by the international World Heritage Program administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee , composed of 21 "states parties" that are elected by the United Nations General Assembly , and advised by reviews of international panels of experts in natural or cultural history, and education. The Program catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to

637-616: Is the southern stretch of the valley between the Azagha and the Bounou dam near Tagounite. There are 55 villages, mostly consisting of ksour (plural of ksar ) : Source : Recensement général du Maroc, 1994 (Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat (RGPH, Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc (HCP), septembre 1994)). The Draa has attracted the attention of a number of notable explorers including Frenchman Charles de Foucauld who travelled throughout Morocco disguised as

686-736: The Songhai Empire sent Tuareg raiders into the Draa valley to avenge a diplomatic insult where Morocco had demanded the cession of the valuable Taghaza salt mine. Four of the sons of Ismail Ibn Sharif have been khalifa of the Draa: Two languages are spoken in the area: a local variety of Colloquial Arabic which is closely related to Hassaniya , and Shilha or Tashelhiyt, a Berber language . The Upper Draa River valley, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) long, consists of six stretches of oases/palm groves from north to south: This

735-796: The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. Under the World Heritage Committee, signatory countries are required to produce and submit periodic data reporting providing the committee with an overview of each participating nation's implementation of the World Heritage Convention and a "snapshot" of current conditions at World Heritage properties. Based on the draft convention that UNESCO had initiated,

784-570: The 16th century, Sheikh Abu al-'Abaas Ahmed bin Abdellah al-Wizkiti al-Warzazi, emir of the qasba of Ouarzazate and father of Lalla Masuda , helped establish Saadi control over the Sous - Dra'a region. Ouarzazate was home to a thriving Jewish community. In 1954, about 170 Jews lived in the Mellah. The "Old Synagogue", a synagogue said to be nearly 300 years old, is located in Ouarzazate. There

833-464: The Draa valley, depicting hunting scenes as well as domesticated cattle. The chronology of these sites is uncertain, but the earliest may date to the 3rd millennium BCE. The Draa River was also well known to the ancient Romans. It figures on the first world map in history made by Ptolemy (90-168 AD). During the reign of the Wattasid Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad , Askia Ishaq I of

882-707: The Great Barrier Reef on the endangered list, as global climate change had caused a further negative state of the corals and water quality. Again, the Australian government campaigned against this, and in July 2021, the World Heritage Committee , made up of diplomatic representatives of 21 countries, ignored UNESCO's assessment, based on studies of scientists, "that the reef was clearly in danger from climate change and so should be placed on

931-1038: The List of World Heritage in Danger and the World Heritage List. Only three sites have ever been delisted : the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, and the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in the United Kingdom. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was directly delisted in 2007, instead of first being put on the danger list, after the Omani government decided to reduce

980-609: The World Heritage Committee for new designations. The Committee meets once a year to determine which nominated properties to add to the World Heritage List; sometimes it defers its decision or requests more information from the country that nominated the site. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one to be included on the list. Until 2004, there were six sets of criteria for cultural heritage and four for natural heritage. In 2005, UNESCO modified these and now has one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal value" and must meet at least one of

1029-998: The World Heritage Fund to facilitate its conservation under certain conditions. UNESCO reckons the restorations of the following four sites among its success stories: Angkor in Cambodia, the Old City of Dubrovnik in Croatia, the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Kraków in Poland, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania. Additionally, the local population around a site may benefit from significantly increased tourism revenue. When there are significant interactions between people and

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1078-606: The Yemen (2011) and The Wages of Fear (2024) were shot here, as was part of the TV series Game of Thrones . It was the filming location for the fictional city of Agapenta in the fourth season of the Netflix series Outer Banks . Its name comes from a Berber phrase meaning "without noise" or "without confusion". For a long time, Ouarzazate was a small crossing point for African traders on their way to northern Morocco and Europe. In

1127-501: The awards, because World Heritage listing can significantly increase tourism returns. Site listing bids are often lengthy and costly, putting poorer countries at a disadvantage. Eritrea 's efforts to promote Asmara are one example. In 2016, the Australian government was reported to have successfully lobbied for the World Heritage Site Great Barrier Reef conservation efforts to be removed from

1176-504: The commitment of countries and local population to World Heritage conservation in various ways, providing emergency assistance for sites in danger, offering technical assistance and professional training, and supporting States Parties' public awareness-building activities. Being listed as a World Heritage Site can positively affect the site, its environment, and interactions between them. A listed site gains international recognition and legal protection, and can obtain funds from, among others,

1225-454: The committee. A site may be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger if conditions threaten the characteristics for which the landmark or area was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Such problems may involve armed conflict and war, natural disasters, pollution, poaching, or uncontrolled urbanisation or human development. This danger list is intended to increase international awareness of

1274-590: The common Cambrian lagerstätten and the Late Ordovician Soom shale . In the fossilized fauna were numerous organisms previously thought to have died out after the mid- Cambrian . Human occupation in the Draa valley and adjacent mountains dates at least to the Lower Paleolithic, as attested by Oldowan and Acheulean tools found near Tamegroute. Middle Paleolithic sites are widespread. Neolithic-era rock art can be found throughout

1323-417: The common culture and heritage of humankind. The programme began with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage , which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since then, 196 states have ratified the convention, making it one of the most widely recognised international agreements and the world's most popular cultural programme. In 1954,

1372-412: The convention. By assigning places as World Heritage Sites, UNESCO wants to help preserve them for future generations. Its motivation is that "heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today" and that both cultural and natural heritage are "irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration". UNESCO's mission with respect to World Heritage consists of eight sub targets. These include encouraging

1421-650: The endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia . This resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, as well as the salvage and relocation to higher ground of several important temples. The most famous of these are the temple complexes of Abu Simbel and Philae . The campaign ended in 1980 and

1470-609: The flow of the Draa. Most of the year the part of the Draa after Tagounite falls dry. In the first half of the 20th century, the lowest course of the Draa marked the boundary between the French protectorate of Morocco and the area under Spanish rule . The valley contains the Fezouata formations , which are Burgess shale-type deposits dating to the Lower Ordovician , filling an important preservational window between

1519-538: The government of Egypt decided to build the new Aswan High Dam , whose resulting future reservoir would eventually inundate a large stretch of the Nile valley containing cultural treasures of ancient Egypt and ancient Nubia . In 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to assist them to protect and rescue

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1568-992: The last two decades. These activities endanger Natural World Heritage Sites and could compromise their unique values. Of the Natural World Heritage Sites that contain forest, 91% experienced some loss since 2000. Many of them are more threatened than previously thought and require immediate conservation action. The destruction of cultural assets and identity-establishing sites is one of the primary goals of modern asymmetrical warfare. Terrorists, rebels, and mercenary armies deliberately smash archaeological sites, sacred and secular monuments and loot libraries, archives and museums. The UN, United Nations peacekeeping and UNESCO in cooperation with Blue Shield International are active in preventing such acts. "No strike lists" are also created to protect cultural assets from air strikes. The founding president of Blue Shield International Karl von Habsburg summed it up with

1617-517: The list." According to environmental protection groups, this "decision was a victory for cynical lobbying and [...] Australia, as custodians of the world's biggest coral reef, was now on probation." Several listed locations, such as Casco Viejo in Panama and Hội An in Vietnam , have struggled to strike a balance between the economic benefits of catering to greatly increased visitor numbers after

1666-836: The local level which can result in the site being damaged. Rock art under world heritage protection at the Tadrart Acacus in Libya have occasionally been intentionally destroyed. Chalcraft links this destruction to Libyan national authorities prioritizing World Heritage status over local sensibilities by limiting access to the sites without consulting with the local population. UNESCO has also been criticized for alleged geographic bias, racism , and colourism in world heritage inscription. A major chunk of all world heritage inscriptions are located in regions whose populations generally have lighter skin, including Europe, East Asia, and North America. The World Heritage Committee has divided

1715-616: The middle of a bare plateau south of the High Atlas Mountains , with a desert to the city's south. Ouarzazate has a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ). The city is hot and dry in summer, but can be very cold in winter, with icy winds coming from the High Atlas Mountains. The Kasbah Taourirt is the city's historic kasbah (fortified residence, or tighremt in Berber languages). It

1764-730: The natural environment, these can be recognised as "cultural landscapes". A country must first identify its significant cultural and natural sites in a document known as the Tentative List. Next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File, which is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union . A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on its Tentative List. The two international bodies make recommendations to

1813-562: The protected area's size by 90%. The Dresden Elbe Valley was first placed on the danger list in 2006 when the World Heritage Committee decided that plans to construct the Waldschlösschen Bridge would significantly alter the valley's landscape. In response, the Dresden City Council attempted to stop the bridge's construction. However, after several court decisions allowed the building of the bridge to proceed,

1862-467: The recognition and preserving the original culture and local communities. Another criticism is that there is a homogeneity to these sites, which contain similar styles, visitor centres , etc., meaning that a lot of the individuality of these sites has been removed to become more attractive to tourists. Anthropologist Jasper Chalcraft said that World Heritage recognition often ignores contemporary local usage of certain sites. This leads to conflicts on

1911-481: The ten criteria. A country may request to extend or reduce the boundaries, modify the official name, or change the selection criteria of one of its already listed sites. Any proposal for a significant boundary change or to modify the site's selection criteria must be submitted as if it were a new nomination, including first placing it on the Tentative List and then onto the Nomination File. A request for

1960-405: The threats and to encourage counteractive measures. Threats to a site can be either proven imminent threats or potential dangers that could have adverse effects on a site. The state of conservation for each site on the danger list is reviewed yearly; after this, the Committee may request additional measures, delete the property from the list if the threats have ceased or consider deletion from both

2009-622: The valley was removed from the World Heritage List in 2009. Liverpool 's World Heritage status was revoked in July 2021, following developments ( Liverpool Waters and Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium ) on the northern docks of the World Heritage site leading to the "irreversible loss of attributes" on the site. The first global assessment to quantitatively measure threats to Natural World Heritage Sites found that 63% of sites have been damaged by increasing human pressures including encroaching roads, agriculture infrastructure and settlements over

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2058-436: The words: "Without the local community and without the local participants, that would be completely impossible". The UNESCO-administered project has attracted criticism. This was caused by perceived under-representation of heritage sites outside Europe, disputed decisions on site selection and adverse impact of mass tourism on sites unable to manage rapid growth in visitor numbers. A large lobbying industry has grown around

2107-526: The work of the World Heritage Committee was developed over a seven-year period (1965–1972). The United States initiated the idea of safeguarding places of high cultural or natural importance. A White House conference in 1965 called for a "World Heritage Trust" to preserve "the world's superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the entire world citizenry". The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, which were presented in 1972 at

2156-652: The world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity". To be selected, a World Heritage Site is nominated by its host country and determined by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to be a unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable, having a special cultural or physical significance, and to be under a sufficient system of legal protection. For example, World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains or wilderness areas. A World Heritage Site may signify

2205-744: The world into five geographic regions: Africa, Arab states, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Russia and the Caucasus states are classified as European, while Mexico and the Caribbean are classified as belonging to the Latin America and the Caribbean region. The UNESCO geographic regions also give greater emphasis on administrative, rather than geographic associations. Hence, Gough Island , located in

2254-852: Was also the location of an episode of the television series The Amazing Race 10 and Game of Thrones season 3 . Prison Break season 5 was filmed here. Another large studio in Ouarzazate is CLA Studios , established in 2004. The Cinema Museum, located across from the Kasbah Taourirt, opened in 2007 and is housed in a former film studio. The museum displays film sets, props, and technical equipment from previous productions. 30°55′N 6°55′W  /  30.917°N 6.917°W  / 30.917; -6.917 Draa Valley The Draa ( Berber languages : Asif en Dra , ⴰⵙⵉⴼ ⴻⵏ ⴷⵔⴰ , Moroccan Arabic : واد درعة , romanized:  wad dərʿa ; also spelled Dra or Drâa , in older sources mostly Darha or Dara , Latin : Darat )

2303-693: Was collected from 50 countries. The project's success led to other safeguarding campaigns, such as saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. Together with the International Council on Monuments and Sites , UNESCO then initiated a draft convention to protect cultural heritage. The convention (the signed document of international agreement ) guiding

2352-523: Was considered a success. To thank countries which especially contributed to the campaign's success, Egypt donated four temples; the Temple of Dendur was moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City , the Temple of Debod to the Parque del Oeste in Madrid , the Temple of Taffeh to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden , and the Temple of Ellesyia to Museo Egizio in Turin . The project cost US$ 80 million (equivalent to $ 295.83 million in 2023), about $ 40 million of which

2401-410: Was owned and expanded by the Glaoui family in the late 19th century and the 20th century. Built mainly of rammed earth , it is one of the most impressive examples of this type of structure, which characterizes the architecture of the predominantly Berber-inhabited Atlas mountain and oasis regions of Morocco. A short distance west of the city is Aït Benhaddou , a historic ksar (fortified village) and

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