Amghar Mosque

OVERVIEW

Site: Amghar Mosque

GPS: 33.740849, 10.734973

Location: Ajim outskirts (Médenine Governorate) / Djerba island (Tunisia)

Description:
Ibadi coastal defense mosque (10th century CE)
Decommissioned religious site (since at least 1975)

Star Wars film:
Episode IV — A New Hope (1977)

Set construction: n/a

Production: 4 April 1976

Star Wars location | Film set:
Jundland Wastes | Obi-Wan Kenobi’s house (exterior)

Leads on set: n/a

Sequence:
Transition to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s house {plate} — Filmed: 4 April 1976
Final cut: 1
Deleted: 0

Plate: Only Star Wars film site in Tunisia filmed strictly as a plate (no actors), augmented in post-production with a composited landspeeder.

Framed setting: Cropped footage was filmed at low camera angles from at least two different vantage points to create the inland Jundland Wastes visual, hiding views of the Mediterranean (Gulf of Gabès) coastline surrounding the mosque.

Unscheduled: Last-minute 2nd unit location shoot (absent from call sheet records) filmed on the last day of 1st unit Episode IV principal photography in Tunisia at nearby Sidi Jemour Mosque.

Replaced: Episode IV Special Edition (1997) replaced Amghar Mosque footage with a cliffside CGI-enhanced miniature, relegating on-screen discovery of “Old Ben’s” original Tatooine dwelling to pre-1997 archived copies.

Invader: Paris-based French artist Invader attached the Obi-Wan mosaic to the mosque south wall in November 2019 as part of a 15-day project to install 58 pre-made “space invader” mosaics around Djerba island.

Accessibility: Very easy; flat terrain; paved roads; parking area (33.740961, 10.735124) directly at the site.