Ksar Ouled Debbab
OVERVIEW
Site: Ksar Ouled Debbab
Location: Ksar Ouled Debbab village (Tataouine Governorate) / Southeast Tunisia
GPS: 32.869731, 10.381757
Description: Amazigh fortified granary (mid-18th century CE)
Star Wars recce: Episode IV – Tunisia (1975)
Source: Original recce photographs & recce sketch
Potential Star Wars set concept: Mos Eisley | slums street
Accessibility: Very easy; foothills terrain; paved roads; spacious parking area (32.869657, 10.381198) directly at the site entrance.
LOCATION
Ksar Ouled Debbab (alternately: Dabbab) is a small Amazigh village situated in the southern foothills of the Jebel Dahar mountain range approximately 9 km southwest of Tataouine city via the P19 highway in the Tataouine Governorate. The modern village shares the name of the ancient ksar, which forms the southern perimeter of the village.
SITE
Ksar Ouled Debbab is the largest ksar founded by the Amazigh Ouled Debbab tribe, which settled in the region in the early 18th century CE. The original (northwest) courtyard, formed like an irregular amphitheater (70 x 65 m), dates to approximately 1760. The ksar, associated with at least six different Ouled Debbab clans, was later extended some 230 meters to the southeast in the shape of an elongated, increasingly narrow courtyard with a single exterior entrance placed at the southeast corner of the site. The size of this architectural expansion denotes periods of significant local economic development and population growth requiring a substantial number of ghorfas (about 400 in total stacked no more than two stories high) for the storage of grain and other food staples. A unique grouping of ghorfas built in the center of the original courtyard was also added at a later date, dividing the space into an open northern area connected to a narrow southern row (complete with a distinctive archway near the southeastern end of the row).
The ksar complex has a relatively long history as a tourism attraction linked to intermittent business investment initiatives by various managing groups dating back to the 1960s. The first documented commercial venture to offer lodging accommodations at the site, named “Ghorfa Hotel,” was in operation prior to 1980. Attempts to attract consistent clientele proved to be unsuccessful, forcing all business operations to close in the late 1990s.
Commercial investment was revived in 2004, this time more professional and diverse in nature, offering a museum, café, restaurant, retail shop, and hotel. New ksar-inspired ghorfas (hotel rooms) coupled with extravagant decor, largely incongruent with the traditional design of the heritage site, controversially replaced the dilapidated granary architecture of the original courtyard prior to mid-2010. In addition, crews separated the two courtyards of the ksar complex by building a ghorfa-like wall (with an access door) on each side of the ghorfa cluster in the center of the original courtyard, removing the distinctive archway in the process. A third wall was erected in the southeast courtyard to isolate its most narrow section (ca. 150 meters long) along with the ksar’s original exterior entrance from the rest of the complex. These changes were amplified by the construction of an adjoining contemporary entrance area northwest of the ksar exterior filled with an oversized artificial eagle embedded in a waterfall, statues of dinosaurs and dromedary camels, and plow and amphora displays.
The Cherait Group, which acquired authorities in 2011 to conduct business operations at Ksar Ouled Debbab, serves as the current management group over the site, focusing on luxury hotel accommodations, a high-quality restaurant (with interactive events), and a regional/Islamic art museum. The entirety of the southeast courtyard remains unrenovated and presently functions as a dumping ground for assorted paraphernalia.
IDENTIFICATION
In his monumental work The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (2007), J.W. Rinzler published negatives (Kodak Tri-X panchromatic film) of various location scout photos taken by John Barry (production designer) during the principal Episode IV pre-production recce to Tunisia in mid-November 1975. No names or clear identifications were provided for any of the negatives. Multi-faceted research confirms that five recce photos combine to depict the northeast wall and north corner of the Ksar Ouled Debbab original courtyard. Comparisons with historical photos taken prior to the major structural renovations of the original courtyard proved to be critical in the process of verifying this location. The post-renovation architecture renders the Ksar Ouled Debbab recce photos only faintly recognizable.
An original concept sketch drawn by Barry during or shortly after the mid-November 1975 location scout provides additional evidence to identify Ksar Ouled Debbab as a recce site. The sketch depicts ghorfas on both sides of the divided original courtyard from a vantage point approximately 40 meters southeast of the perimeter of the courtyard. The distinctive archway of the courtyard and outline of the mountain range west of the Ksar Ouled Debbab village are also visible. Five groups of Jawas and a moisture vaporator cluster represent the fictional elements in the sketch.
The sketch caption labels the illustrated location as: “Adjim Djerba. Foume Tatahouine. Ghorfa Hotel.” “Ghorfa Hotel” is a reference to the business previously in operation at Ksar Ouled Debbab, proving that the hotel was functional as early as 1975. “Foume Tatahouine” (Arabic: “mouth of the water springs”) is the antiquated name formerly used for nearby Tataouine city, which, as the only major city in the vicinity of Ksar Ouled Debbab, likely served as the base location to explore the Tataouine Governorate during the mid-November 1975 location scout. The reference to “Adjim Djerba” links the Mos Eisley Cantina set location in Ajim to this recce site, which, according to a pre-production Tunisia shooting schedule (made prior to late January 1976), was slated to function as the Mos Eisley slum dwellings exterior for a scene—first introduced in the second draft (28 January 1975)—in which Luke stops his landspeeder to ask a group of Jawas directions to the cantina.
The Mos Eisley slums street scene was replaced in the fourth draft (1 January 1976) with scene 48 [Ben: “These are not the droids you’re looking for”]. Gary Kurtz (producer) confirmed in a department heads meeting on 23 January 1976 that this script change was final, eliminating the scene of the “landspeeder approaching the town with the Jawas gathered around a solar heater” intended to be shot at “Foum Tataouine.”
Hanout el-Aouina
OVERVIEW
Site: Hanout el-Aouina workshop
Location: Houmt Souk (Médenine Governorate) / Djerba island (Tunisia)
GPS: 33.882018, 10.855994
Description: Djerban wool weaving workshop (abandoned) (18th century CE)
Star Wars recce: Episode IV – Tunisia (1975)
Source: Original recce photograph
Potential Star Wars set concepts:
Anchorhead | Tosche Station (exterior)
Mos Eisley | Cantina (exterior)
Accessibility: Very easy; city location; paved roads; street parking (33.882034, 10.856110) in close proximity to the site along C117 (main north-south access road in center Djerba); interior not accessible.
LOCATION
Houmt Souk (Arabic: “market neighborhood”), the Djerban capital, is located in the northwest sector of the island approximately 7.5 km east of Djerba-Zarzis Airport. Historically tethered to a Roman settlement called Gerba (alternately: Griba), Houmt Souk was founded as the island’s commercial market and remains Djerba’s lively commercial hub. At the city center is the souk with two qaysarriya (roofed bazaars) reserved for the most expensive goods and several key historical landmarks, to include Sidi Brahim Jomni Mosque, Al-Ghorba Mosque, the Mosque of the Turks, and the Mausoleum of Sidi Abdelkader, which couples as the office for the Association pour la Sauvegarde de l’Ile de Djerba (ASSIDJE). The city is divided into four districts: Taourit and Essouani in the north; Boumellel and Ejjouamaâ in the south.
Borj El Kebir (alternately: Borj El Ghazi Mustapha), the coastal Houmt Souk fort constructed in 1289 by Roger de Lauria (Aragonese king of Sicily), is linked to Ottoman naval dominance at the Battle of Djerba. In a matter of hours on 11 May 1560, the Ottoman admiral Piyale Pasha handed a crushing defeat to a Spanish Armada coalition positioned along the northern Djerban coastline. A significant grouping of Spaniards (accounts range from 500 to 5,000 sailors) retreated to Borj El Kebir and were reportedly massacred inside the fort. The Ottomans reportedly erected a pyramid of Spanish skulls at the fort to commemorate the victory. The skulls stood in place until the governing Turkish Bey, seeking to appease European diplomats, buried the mound in 1848.
SITE
The Hanout el-Aouina workshop with a small west-side adjoining courtyard is located less than 1 km northwest of the city center souk along the busy Avenue Habib Bourguiba (part of the C117 access road) in northern Houmt Souk. Built in the 18th century CE by the Seoud family, the name Hanout el-Aouina in Tunisian Arabic means “the plum workshop,” suggesting the presence of a prominent plum tree in the immediate vicinity at the time of construction. The Seoud family owned and operated the wool weaving workshop up until at least the late 20th century CE. The historical value of the now-abandoned workshop is easy to overlook amidst the surrounding modern apartments, shops, restaurants, and administrative buildings.
Expertise in wool weaving as a defining Djerban handicraft dates back to the Middle Ages. Traditional wool weaving workshops—whether stand-alone or connected to menzel and/or mosque complexes—are numerous on the island. The unique Djerban weaving workshop design typically consists of (1) matching front and rear pentagon-shaped facades with parallel vertical walls, (2) one entrance access (front facade), (3) a vaulted concave roof often lined with five ghorfa-like vaults on each side, and (4) five external buttresses paired with window openings on each side wall. The architectural composition of Hanout el-Aouina incorporates all elements of this typical Djerban design.
IDENTIFICATION
John Barry (production designer) used Kodak Tri-X panchromatic photographs and hand-drawn sketches to document the various locations scouted during the principal Episode IV pre-production recce to Tunisia in mid-November 1975. Over 30 negatives from Barry’s collection of recce photos have been released via official publications or Star Wars community online platforms. No names or specific identifications are associated with any of the negatives.
Multi-faceted research confirms that one of Barry’s recce photos depicts the Hanout el-Aouina workshop from a vantage point close to Avenue Habib Bourguiba approximately 10 meters southeast of the building entrance. Visible in the recce photo is the workshop front facade, eastern side wall, west-side courtyard, and an assortment of wool materials placed outside in the entrance area, likely as part of the production process. (The outdoor activity exhibited in the photo confirms that the workshop was operational up through 1975). The deliberate stop at Hanout el-Aouina mirrors the interest given to the Bouregba Mosque complex weaving workshop in Sedouikech during the same recce.
Hanout el-Aouina, the first Star Wars recce site identified in Houmt Souk, remains readily recognizable, more or less unchanged since 1975 with the minor exception of a raised cement platform along the front facade. Replicating the exact angle of the recce photo is obstructed by the post-1975 placement of a large utility panel in the direct area outside the workshop used by Barry to frame the photo. Although unconfirmed, several yet-to-be-identified recce photos from Barry’s collection might possibly conclude that the Episode IV recce team also scouted various market streets inside the Houmt Souk city center.
Chebika
OVERVIEW
Site: Ancient Chebika
Location: Tozeur Governorate / Southwest Tunisia
GPS: 34.321577, 7.938975
Description: Ruins (Roman era)
Star Wars recce: Episode IV – Tunisia (1975)
Source: Original recce sketch
Potential Star Wars set concepts:
Mos Eisley | Cantina (exterior)
Mos Eisley | Docking Bay 94 alley
Mos Eisley | plaza
Mos Eisley | stormtrooper checkpoint
Accessibility: Very easy; highland terrain; paved roads; parking area (34.320475, 7.939072) directly at the site.
SITE
Fortified as the Roman outpost Ad Speculum (Latin: “from the mirror”), ancient Chebika, perched on a rock platform at the foot of Jebel el-Negueb less than 500 meters northeast of the modern village, was utilized as a mountain stronghold in the arid Djerid region from which to send signals by mirror to track caravans traveling to/from Tozeur. In the post-Roman era, the settlement was converted into an Amazigh mountain refuge alternately known as Ksar el-Shams (Arabic: “castle of the sun”) due to its openly exposed position. Remains of narrow streets and brick and mud structures blend the ancient village into the surrounding jagged peaks on all sides (except to the south). A steep ravine filled with date palms injects contrasting greenery to the east/southeast.
The elevated position of ancient Chebika offers sweeping views of the Chott el-Gharsa salt flats, located some 20 km to the south. A marked trail, running along the tiered retaining wall built on the eastern perimeter of the site, leads to a small waterfall tucked inside the canyon to the northeast. The 40-minute walk to the waterfall following a spring-fed stream with several pools of clear blue water is a popular tourist attraction, especially during the winter months when the spring is most active. According to tradition, the spring was formed at the point where a wandering camel carrying the body of a marabout named Sidi Sultan came to a halt. Sidi Sultan Marabout, located near the ravine, enshrines the tomb of the Muslim holy man.
SITE
Fortified as the Roman outpost Ad Speculum (Latin: “from the mirror”), ancient Chebika, perched on a rock platform at the foot of Jebel el-Negueb less than 500 meters northeast of the modern village, was utilized as a mountain stronghold in the arid Djerid region from which to send signals by mirror to track caravans traveling to/from Tozeur. In the post-Roman era, the settlement was converted into an Amazigh mountain refuge alternately known as Ksar el-Shams (Arabic: “castle of the sun”) due to its openly exposed position. Remains of narrow streets and brick and mud structures blend the ancient village into the surrounding jagged peaks on all sides (except to the south). A steep ravine filled with date palms injects contrasting greenery to the east/southeast.
The elevated position of ancient Chebika offers sweeping views of the Chott el-Gharsa salt flats, located some 20 km to the south. A marked trail, running along the tiered retaining wall built on the eastern perimeter of the site, leads to a small waterfall tucked inside the canyon to the northeast. The 40-minute walk to the waterfall following a spring-fed stream with several pools of clear blue water is a popular tourist attraction, especially during the winter months when the spring is most active. According to tradition, the spring was formed at the point where a wandering camel carrying the body of a marabout named Sidi Sultan came to a halt. Sidi Sultan Marabout, located near the ravine, enshrines the tomb of the Muslim holy man.
IDENTIFICATION
In his monumental work The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (2007), J.W. Rinzler published several original concept sketches drawn by John Barry (production designer) from late 1975 to early 1976 in conjunction with the principal Episode IV pre-production recce to Tunisia in mid-November 1975. One of the sketches contains a detailed caption that clearly identifies Chebika as the illustrated location: “CHEBIKA – in mountains near TOZEUR. Alternative town to AJIM – near salt flat location.”
Barry likely relied on at least two vantage points—southeast and southwest of the ancient village—to draw the sketch. The distinctive multi-level mudbrick reinforcement wall located on the east edge of the Chebika ruins paired with identifiable elements of the buildings above the tiered wall are unmistakingly featured in the drawing. The mountains in the sketch seem to resemble a conflated perspective of real-world peaks situated both north and east of the ruins. Barry added landspeeders, villagers, rooftop small domes, and futuristic antennas to complete the fictional Tatooine cityscape, mirroring the unique Ibadi/Amazigh architecture ubiquitously present on Djerba island. Post-1975 tourism developments on the south side of the ruins (viewing platform, cafe, shops) restrict the ability to exactly match Barry’s original sketch position(s) at the site.
Barry’s identification of Chebika as an alternate to Ajim indicates that the site was under consideration as a possible location for the Episode IV Mos Eisley city center scenes involving the stormtrooper security checkpoint and cantina exterior. Several geographic factors bolstered the case for Chebika. For example, Chebika’s proximity to the three Episode IV film site areas in the Tozeur Governorate—Chott el-Djerid, Gour Beni Mzab, and Maguer Gorge—offered the possibility of centralizing almost all filming activity in the same general region. Moreover, the rugged mountainous landscape surrounding Chebika (unlike Ajim) matched the screenplay concept for a “bluff overlooking Mos Eisley spaceport,” initially introduced in the third draft (1 August 1975). Lastly, the compact size and post-1969 abandoned state of the Chebika ruins created the potential for enhanced flexibility to film both landscape-enriched wide shots and street-level close-ups. In the end, Chebika’s remote mountainous setting seemingly presented more logistical challenges than advantages and budget constraints rendered the option of dressing an entire village with set decor as highly unrealistic. The decision to film Episode IV Mos Eisley scenes in Ajim (rather than Chebika) proved to be both practical and economical, shaped in part by Djerba’s position as the primary travel hub to/from southern Tunisia.
Bouregba Mosque
OVERVIEW
Site: Bouregba Mosque complex
Location: Sedouikech (Médenine Governorate) / Djerba island (Tunisia)
GPS: 33.746187, 10.920452
Description: Ibadi complex (late 19th century CE)
Star Wars recce: Episode IV – Tunisia (1975)
Source: Original recce photograph
Potential Star Wars set concepts:
Anchorhead | Tosche Station (exterior)
Mos Eisley | Cantina (exterior)
Accessibility: Very easy; flat terrain; paved roads; street parking (33.745817, 10.920226) in close proximity to the site along C117 (main north-south access road in center Djerba); stone wall surrounds the complex; not open to visitors.
LOCATION
Sedouikech (alternately: Seduiksh, Sadouikch, Sedouikch, Sedouikeche), located on a small plateau in the southeast sector of Djerba, is a town spanning approximately 13 km² in total area. Stemming from the medieval-era network of densely packed rural Djerban settlements, Sedouikech is defined by its menzel complexes, fish market, and wool weaving workshops. The town “center” is more or less divided in half by the C117 access road that connects Houmt Souk (roughly 16 km to the northwest) southward to the Roman-era viaduct, the only land route between Djerba and the Tunisian mainland. In conjunction with Ouirsighen, Guellala, and Ajim to the west, Sedouikech is distinguished as one of the few remaining locations on the island in which the Amazigh (Berber) language is spoken on a daily basis.
SITE
The Bouregba Mosque complex serves as the defining landmark in the Sedouikech center area. Resting on the highest point on the island, Ibadi authorities constructed the mosque and adjoining minaret in the late 19th century CE to serve both as a place of worship and a defensive vantage point for inland Djerba. The wool weaving workshop and cemetery were added to the Ibadi complex likely in the early 20th century CE.
Establishing weaving workshops next to mosques was a common practice for historic Djerba. The unique Djerban weaving workshop design typically consists of (1) matching front and rear pentagon-shaped facades with parallel vertical walls, (2) one entrance access (front facade), (3) a vaulted concave roof often lined with five ghorfa-like vaults on each side, and (4) five external buttresses paired with window openings on each side wall.
IDENTIFICATION
John Barry (production designer) used Kodak Tri-X panchromatic photographs and hand-drawn sketches to document the various locations scouted during the principal Episode IV pre-production recce to Tunisia in mid-November 1975. Over 30 negatives from Barry’s collection of recce photos have been released via official publications or Star Wars community online platforms. No names or specific identifications are associated with any of the negatives.
Multi-faceted research confirms that one of Barry’s recce photos depicts the Bouregba Mosque from the vantage point of the C117 access road overlooking the southwest corner of the complex. Barry appears to have taken the photo from inside a vehicle, suggesting only a pass-by stop at the complex. The focal point of the photo seems to be the weaving workshop situated between the mosque minaret and cemetery, mirroring the interest given to the Hanout el-Aouina workshop in Houmt Souk during the same recce.
As the easternmost Star Wars recce site on Djerba island, Bouregba Mosque represents the scouted location nearest to the lodging accommodations used by the Episode IV recce team in likely the Midoun Zone Touristique. Despite various structural changes/additions that have taken place at the complex since the 1975 recce, the Bouregba Mosque minaret, weaving workshop, and cemetery remain overtly recognizable, particularly when viewed over the southwest section of the post-1975 perimeter stone wall that surrounds the complex.
Abu Miswar Mosque
OVERVIEW
Site: Abu Miswar Mosque complex
Location: Hachan outskirts (Médenine Governorate) / Djerba island (Tunisia)
GPS:33.862203, 10.821254
Description: Ibadi complex (late 9th century CE)
Star Wars recce: Episode IV – Tunisia (1975)
Source: Original recce photographs
Potential Star Wars set concepts:
Anchorhead | main road
Anchorhead | Tosche Station (exterior)
Accessibility: Very easy; flat terrain; paved roads; close proximity to airport; parking area (33.862514, 10.821451) directly at the site entrance; courtyard open to visitors.
LOCATION
Hachan (alternately: Hachene, Hashan), located in the northwest sector of Djerba island, is a small village spanning roughly 6.25 km² in total area. Part of the medieval-era network of densely packed rural Djerban settlements, the village is populated predominantly with historic menzel complexes, some of the oldest on the island. The “center” of the village is situated some 3 km southwest of Houmt Souk. The main access road (C116) that connects Houmt Souk to Ajim divides Hachan more or less in half.
SITE
Located along the Hachan northwest perimeter less than 100 meters south of Rue Boumessouer/Airport Road (C116E) and roughly 500 meters east of neighboring Mellita, the Abu Miswar Mosque complex (alternately: The Great Mosque, El Kebir Mosque, Miswariyya, Abi Maswar/Abu Masour/Aboumessouer Mosque) marks the approximate midpoint between Djerba-Zarzis Airport (5 km to the west) and Houmt Souk (4 km to the northeast). Documented as Djerba’s oldest mosque, the Ibadi place of worship was founded in the late 9th century CE by the charismatic Muslim teacher Abu Miswar Yasja, who migrated to Djerba from the Jebel Nafusa mountains in neighboring Libya. Abu Miswar solidified Djerba’s status as the uncontested center of Ibadi learning during the 10th century CE, a tradition continued by his son Abu Zakaria Fasil, who is credited with completing construction on the mosque. Despite the attributed name “Great Mosque,” the Amazigh structure, categorized as one of the inland fortified mosques on the island, is no bigger than any other Djerban mosque (ca. 18 x 17 meters) and typical in appearance with windowless whitewashed walls, a protruding box-shaped mihrab niche (southeast wall), and a fort-like mini-minaret. A historic sundial in the courtyard was used to determine daily prayer times. A series of small rooms were used to house Ibadi students studying at the mosque.
IDENTIFICATION
In his monumental work The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (2007), J.W. Rinzler published a behind-the-scenes-photograph of George Lucas (writer/director) and John Barry (production designer), presumably at EMI-Elstree Studios (Borehamwood, England), reviewing in late 1975/early 1976 the makeshift studio recce wall, composed of an an assortment of unannotated pinned photos (organized by location) taken by Barry during the principal Episode IV pre-production recce to Tunisia in mid-November 1975. Multi-faceted research confirms that three recce photos grouped together on the wall (second column from the left, lower panel, top left-hand corner) depict the Abu Miswar Mosque complex from three different camera angles: two from the northeast section of the mosque courtyard (near the gated main entrance) and one from a vantage point some 50 meters southeast of the complex. The mosque is visible in two of the three camera angles.
Three additional Kodak Tri-X panchromatic photographs from Barry’s recce archives further verify the identification of the Abu Miswar Mosque complex as an Episode IV recce site. Released via Star Wars community online platforms void of any locational attribution (like all of Barry’s recce negatives), on-site visual comparisons confirm that Barry shot all three photos in the mosque courtyard. Two of the photos were taken from a vantage point approximately 15 meters northeast of the mosque: the first depicting Gary Kurtz (producer) making measurements between the northeast corner of the elevated mosque platform and a nearby cistern cover; the second focused on the domed arches of the shaded sitting area attached to the secondary entrance at the southeast corner of the complex. The remaining photo is a close-up featuring one of the various cistern covers plotted around the courtyard on all but the south side of the mosque.
Djerban authorities have designated Abu Miswar Mosque as an essential cultural heritage landmark with funds appropriated to ensure periodic upkeep. Although restoration works at the complex have introduced some structural changes (particularly the expansion of the secondary entrance area) since the 1975 recce, the entire complex remains distinctly recognizable, offering clear reference points to line up Barry’s complete set of six preserved recce photos.
