Ksar Ouled Soltane ( ar, قصر أولاد سلطان ) is a fortified granary, or

ksar Ksar or qsar (Maghrebi Arabic: wiktionary:قصر, قصر ''qṣer'' or ڭصر ''gser'', plural ''qṣur''; Berber language, Berber: ⵉⴴⵔⵎ ''aghrem'' or ''ighrem'', plural: ''igherman''), plural ksars, qsars, ksour or qsour, is the Nor ...

, located in the

Tataouine Tataouine ( ber, Tiṭṭawin; ar, تطاوين) is a city in southern Tunisia. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate. The below-ground "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the ...

district in southern

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. The ksar is spread out over two courtyards, each of which has a perimeter of multi-story vaulted granary cellars, or

ghorfas A ghorfa ( ar, غرفة ''room'') is a vaulted room used by Berbers for storing grain. They are often stacked as multistory structures, sometimes reaching four stories high. Traditionally, the rooms were grouped together as a ksar, a fortificatio ...

. Like other ksour (plural of ksar) built by Berber communities Ksar Ouled Soltane, is located on a hilltop, to help protect it from raiding parties in previous centuries. Ksar Ouled Soltane is now a tourist destination, with visitors coming to see its well-preserved granary vaults. It was also featured in the film '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' in some of the scenes used to represent the slave quarters of

Mos Espa Tatooine () is a fictional desert planet that appears in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first ...

, where the character

Anakin Skywalker Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...

lived as a boy.Stars of the Desert - A journey across the dunes of Tunisia to discover lost "Tatooine"
by Brady Walters.

References

*''Lonely Planet Tunisia, 3rd edition''

References

See also