Ouarzazate Cinema Museum

Ouarzazate has been a film location since the 1960s and has two large studio complexes, Atlas and CLA, because the surrounding country can stand in for the Sinai, Tibet, Somalia, ancient Egypt and Rome without much argument - Lawrence of Arabia, Kundun, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel and a great deal of Game of Thrones were shot in the district, and the economy of the town partly runs on it. The museum opposite the Taourirt kasbah is a hangar and yard holding sets and props left behind: Egyptian columns and thrones, aircraft fuselage, cell blocks, armour, siege equipment and painted flats, arranged with little order and less labelling. It is dusty, unpolished and quite fun if you know the films, and thin if you do not. The studios themselves run separate paid tours and show standing sets, which is the fuller version of the same thing.

Highlights

• Left-behind sets - Egyptian columns, thrones, cell blocks and painted flats in a yard.
• Props from named films - material from productions shot in the district since the 1960s.
• Little order or labelling - a store rather than a curated museum.
• The studios nearby - Atlas and CLA running their own tours of standing sets.

When to go

October to April. An hour.

What to expect

Labelling is minimal and much is unattributed. It is dusty and exposed to the sun. Entry is charged and the studio tours are separate and pricier. Without knowing the films it is thin.

Nearby

Taourirt kasbah is opposite; the Atlas studios are north-west of town.

Key facts