ghadames libya

Ghadames located in the south west , near the borders with Algeria and Tunisia. It was long an important caravan center on the route from Tripoli to West Africa. The town was held by the Romans and was captured (7th cent.) by the Arabs. In 1830, it submitted to the dey of Tripoli. The town was occupied by the Italians in 1924 and in 1943, during World War II, by the French.

Ghadames stands still as one of the most valuable spots in Libya for the traveller. Here you'll find a tranquil old city, with covered streets that are both dark and with far lower temperatures than what you find outdoors. And of course, the colour chosen, is white. Ghadames represents popular engineering, and is the result of a complex knowledge on how to deal with extreme temperatures. The positioning of the houses are far from casual. Every angle, every wall, every opening in the roofs over the alleyways, are parts of the same organism.
Even if Ghadames still stands, the people have moved out of it, into the modern settlement nearby. They still take refuge in the old city when summer becomes unbearable. But with the locals out, and their dwindling knowledge on structuring of houses with natural air conditioning, an important science could be lost.
In earlier days, the life line of Ghadames was trade through the Sahara, including slavery. Today the 10,000 people here make a living out of agriculture.

Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert', stands in an oasis. It is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities and an outstanding example of a traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture is characterized by a vertical division of functions: the ground floor used to store supplies; then another floor for the family, overhanging covered alleys that create what is almost an underground network of passageways; and, at the top, open-air terraces reserved for the women.