Love your movies? Remember that Sheik of Arabia who kept inviting beautiful ladies to his kasbah? Although in his case the kasbah was nothing more than his tent, officially kasbah means fortress. Hundreds of years ago, kasbahs were built by wealthy Arab families to provide protection from marauders and to help control major caravan routes that ran through Morocco.
One particular kasbah, which was built in the 11th century and is now a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site, has also been the background of such movies as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, ‘Jewel of the Nile’ and ‘Gladiator’.
Atlas Studio, situated in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, is a favourite place for Hollywood films taking place in the desert area. Some of the movies filmed here include ‘The Man Who Would Be King’, ‘The Jewel of the Nile’, ‘The Mummy’, ‘Gladiator’, ‘Alexander’, ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, ‘Babel’, ‘Body of Lies’, ‘Prince of Persia’, ‘The Sands of Time’, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Living’.
The town itself, where the studio stands, has luxury hotels, upscale restaurants and a large airport. In addition to the main studio building there are a number of outdoor sets comprised of building facades from various civilizations such as ‘Colosseum’, where Crowe fought in ‘Gladiator’. There is also a massive prop jet plane that was used in ‘Jewel of the Nile’ while in another area of the studio there is an Egyptian tomb with 12ft statues guarding the entrance and exit. Another building holds a replica ‘kasbah’ with winding passageways and alleys.
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