Ghorfas in Southern Tunisia by mtc

Photography • Architecture • posted on Oct 17, 2008

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Description

The Berbers, then the Arabs of Southern Tunisia, built many ksours, which are villages made of houses and of ghorfas, fortified against nomadic attacks. Ghorfa means room in arabic. These cells served to keep the crops of several years, and the biggest part of crop, which occupied the lowest part, was made of cereals. Cheese and olives were stacked in the upper part. Two holes in the walls served to blow fresh air into the cells. Each village had some 200 ghorfas, built on 1 to 6 superimposed levels. Tunisia had some 1500 ksours before World War II, but most of them were abandoned because people left them for more productive areas. Some of them are still partly occupied and other ones were transformed into tourist accommodations. Some ksour, near Tataouine, were used as sceneries for Star Wars. All comments welcome.

Les Berbères, puis les Arabes, du Sud tunisien ont construit de nombreux ksour (au singulier ksar), villages fortifiés contre les attaques de nomades. Ces ksour étaient constitués d’habitations et de ghorfas, ce qui signifie chambre en arabe. Ces sortes de greniers étaient destinés à stocker les récoltes de plusieurs années, notamment de céréales. Le grain occupait la partie inférieure, et dans la partie supérieure on stockait du fromage et des olives. Deux trous percés dans les murs assuraient un courant d’air. Chaque ksar compte en moyenne 200 ghorfas, comprenant d’un à six niveaux. Les ksour, au nombre d’environ 1500 avant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, ont souvent été abandonnés, les habitants étant partis dans des régions moins rudes. Certains sont encore très partiellement habités, d’autres ont été reconvertis en logements pour touristes. D’autres encore ont servi de décor de films, en particulier pour Star Wars, dont une partie du tournage fut effectué près de Tataouine. Commentaires bienvenus.

If you have enjoyed this photo you can also like this one, a fantasy scene composed by Elcet with the same ghorfas, bats and devils:

"Devil’s meeting"

Techdata: Canon EOS300D Digital Rebel with Canon 3.5-4.5/24-85 zoom at 35mm, 1/200 at f/10, aperture-priority automatic. In fact this image was composed of two, the sky was replaced by another one shot taken some minutes before, just at the same place; the ground surface was extended with the Clone Stamp Tool and Adjustment Layers were used. Postwork in Photoshop CS2.

Comments (38)

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pixelmeister

9:22AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Very beautiful image!

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Mondwin

9:28AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Looks fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!Bravissimo!V:DDD.Hugsxx

MrsLubner

9:45AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

The time of day is perfect. The lighting makes good, supportive shadows and accents the openings. Outstanding history lesson as well.

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artaddict2

9:53AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

To appreciate this capture to the full, it is a must to Zoom! great textures. Fascinating history and to find out their use, a really wonderul and interesting shot!

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RocksLady

10:05AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

nice shot

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helanker

10:10AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

I agree with artaddict2. It looks absolutely fantastic. I love it.

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marybelgium

10:47AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

absolument magnifique et commentaire très intéressant !

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durleybeachbum

11:36AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

fascinating!

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carlx

11:53AM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Wonderful building, texture and light!!! Excellent capture!!!

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claude19

12:45PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

TR7S belle réalisation, avec LE commentaire adéquat !!! FELICITATIONS pour ce ciel !

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Meowgli

12:56PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

fascinating - great work!

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nikolais

1:39PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

awesome!

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KarmaSong

2:10PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Je suis bouche bée devant la beauté des ces habitations, leur forme ronde et protectrice et la façon dont l'être humain a su ( le sait-il encore?!) tirer parti des éléments naturels avoisinants. C'est une photo magnifique, elle va tout de suite dans mes favoris! Merci pour cette belle leçon d'ethnologie, Marie-Thérèse!

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magnus073

2:33PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

C'est une photo vraiment stupéfiante mon ami, quelle grande capture. Le merci aussi pour l'histoire détaillée

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El_Lee

3:33PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

The structure is gorgeous, what strikes me are the clouds. Gorgeous capture.

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Janiss

3:59PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Absolument magnifique... je ne peux rien dire d'autre Marie-Thérèse! Mille bravo!

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jocko500

5:50PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

wow this is something. never know this before

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LovelyPoetess

9:13PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Wonderful photograph! : )

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MrsRatbag

9:34PM | Fri, 17 October 2008

Wow, amazing structure and wonderful capture!

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auntietk

12:08AM | Sat, 18 October 2008

This is just fascinating! Wonderful image.

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Milouv

3:35AM | Sat, 18 October 2008

Un beau contraste entre la grisaille du ciel est la couleur chaude de l'habitation. Un style d'habitation que n'aurait pas renié le Corbusier.

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remail

3:40AM | Sat, 18 October 2008

Très belle image, à l'ambiance dramatique. En outre, les couleurs de la pierre et du ciel sont superbes.

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JuliaKretsch

1:21AM | Sun, 19 October 2008

Absolutely gorgeous! This is one place that I missed and feel so sorry about. But I'll surely visit Tunisia again, as I loved it! Thank you for sharing.

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