landmark · Ouarzazate, Morocco
Aït Benhaddou
A filming location from Gladiator in Ouarzazate.
Petar Milošević · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The scene
The fortified mud-brick ksar rising from the desert is the slave town of Zucchabar, where Maximus first fights.
How to visit
A UNESCO village reached by a short walk and a stream crossing from the roadside; local guides offer to show the kasbah for a tip. It's a couple of hours over the Atlas from Marrakech.
Address: Aït Benhaddou, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco · Open in Google Maps
- Climb to the granary at the top for desert views.
- The film studios of Ouarzazate are nearby.
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Good to know
- What was filmed at Aït Benhaddou?
- The fortified mud-brick ksar rising from the desert is the slave town of Zucchabar, where Maximus first fights.
- Can you visit Aït Benhaddou?
- A UNESCO village reached by a short walk and a stream crossing from the roadside; local guides offer to show the kasbah for a tip. It's a couple of hours over the Atlas from Marrakech.
- Where is Aït Benhaddou?
- Aït Benhaddou is a real filming location in Ouarzazate. Aït Benhaddou, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco
More to film-spot in Ouarzazate
Aït Benhaddou
The ancient earthen ksar, a UNESCO-listed stack of kasbahs above a river, stood in for the walled city of Troy in the film's opening chapter.
Atlas Studios and the Ouarzazate desert
The desert around Ouarzazate, Morocco's long-standing stand-in for the ancient world, staged Lucius's brutal first fight in a makeshift wooden amphitheatre.