Look up: before you rise great square towers decorated with geometric patterns in relief. Built of mud brick and straw, the Taourirt Kasbah in Ouarzazate was one of the residences of the powerful Glaoui family.
Inside, you enter a maze of corridors and rooms: originally the kasbah had around 300. Time and history have changed its layout and today only part of it can be visited, including the reception hall, the dining room and the private apartments. The richness of the interiors – painted stucco, zellige, carved cedar ceilings and traditional tataoui ceilings of woven branches – contrasts with the plain exterior.
Climb the stairs to the roof terrace for a superb view over the oasis, the palm groves and the town of Ouarzazate.
You can visit on your own or with a guide: it is a jewel of Amazigh earthen architecture.
We visit it on many of our desert tours.
More about Ouarzazate on Wikipedia.
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