The Pearl Of The Desert

May 11, 2020 11:30 AM

The Old Town of Ghadamès, an ancient city in the Libyan desert, is a beautiful and excellent example of a "desert urbanism," of a pre-Roman oasis town on the caravan routes across the Sahara.

The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, though many sections have been damaged and abandoned.
Libya's 'pearl of the desert', and The Collapse Of Buildings At Ghadames


Urban planning and architecture of the historic city of Ghadames, Libya: lessons from the past for cities of the future [PDF], A. Abufayed, A. Rghei & A. Aboufayed,WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 83

Remotely located about 600 km from the Mediterranean sea, the historic city of Ghadames has emerged as the Sahara desert's most important cultural and trade center for many centuries thanks to the outstanding qualities of its urban planning and vernacular architecture. The objective of this paper is to describe these qualities and demonstrate their effectiveness specifically in light of the physical environment constraints and in comparison with the newly built city of Ghadames. Threats to the sustainability of both cities are also defined along with ways to overcome them based on lessons from traditional and new architecture.

Interpretation of sustainable desert architecture in Ghadames city, Libya Eltrapolsi, A & Altan, Haşim

Ghadames is classified as one of the World’s heritage city, combining old town (vernacular) and new (modern) city. In Ghadames, the design of houses in old town utilised the favourable elements and at the same time minimised the unfavourable elements of the local climatic conditions by sustainable design of houses more responsive to the climate in the region. This paper qualitatively highlighted the perfect picture of vernacular architecture, presenting the strategies of the potential of building design to rethink new architecture in the light of understanding the dynamics and the strength of vernacular techniques.

The Old City of Ghadames: an epitome of desert environment engineering[PDF], A. Abufayed, Transactions on the Built Environment vol 66

Traditional Settlement in the Oasis of Ghadames in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Abubaker Mohamed Shawesh, Libya Studies, Volume 261995 , pp. 35-47

Perhaps the tourists will return.

posted by the man of twists and turns (6 comments total)

One of the most memorable places I've been to, I certainly hope to return.
posted by Bektashi at 11:35 AM on May 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

'...italy's hold on the city was interrupted several times until June 1915, when a general rising throughout Libya caused the Italian garrison to retreat from Ghadames to the stronghold of Tripoli. Effective control over the city was restored in December 1918, but rebellion throughout Fezzan kept Ghadames in a state of emergency until 1923.'

"Questi non sono i droidi che stiamo cercando ..."
posted by clavdivs at 12:40 PM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is so cool, saving the articles to read tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!
posted by peakes at 12:43 PM on May 11, 2020

Lovely, but where are the people?
posted by Sheydem-tants at 1:05 PM on May 11, 2020

I have never been to Ghadames, but I have been to a sister city, Ghardaïa, in Algeria, which arose at about the same time for the same reasons. It was an astonishing experience.
posted by mwhybark at 4:10 PM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Really interesting city. I'm finally getting around to watching these and reading. Hoping to find out more about their water situation, since one of the videos showed them running dry for the date orchards for a period of time, and then showed the situation "fixed" with no technical explanation of how that happened.

I'm curious how many people still actually live there, given the political situation.

Also... couldn't help noticing that the men get to enjoy the well-designed shaded paths that stay a comfortable 20 C year-round, but the women are restricted to traveling across the rooftops in the baking hot sun?
posted by cnidaria at 12:44 PM on June 6, 2020