Ksar of Lamaarka

Ksar Lamaarka is a ksar (fortified village) in Morocco, located in the Er Rteb area, at an altitude of about 892 metres above sea level. This ksar was built using rammed-earth technique, with clay used in its construction.

Ksar Lamaarka, or Imri n Lmaarka in Amazigh, is a small fortified village belonging to the rural commune of Er Rteb, in Errachidia Province, Drâa-Tafilalet region, south-eastern Morocco.

Ksar Lamaarka in Tafilalet lies in the pre-Saharan zone of the Moroccan High Atlas, in the middle of the Ziz valley, bordered by palm groves and neighbouring several other ksour. It is administratively attached to the rural commune of Er Rteb in Errachidia Province. The ksar lies on the right bank of the Ziz River, 50 km from the city of Errachidia and 7 km from the village of Aoufous.

The districts neighbouring Ksar Lamaarka are: Ksar Tamarkit, Ksar Zerigat, Jbel Lamaarka, Ksar Belaghem and Ksar Zaouia Jedida.

The ksar's inhabitants live from agriculture, which forms the basis of the ksar's economy, beneath the palm trees.

Ksar Lamaarka represents one of the oldest ksour of the sultans of the ruling Alaouite dynasty in the Draa-Tafilalet region of south-eastern Morocco. The Alaouites, who originally came from Tafilalet, paid special attention to the building of sultans' ksour, since many of them were born in this region, and a good number of them were dedicated to building such ksour. Hence the flourishing of the sultans' ksour.

The best example of these model ksour is Ksar Lamaarka, built by the Alaouite sultan Moulay Ismail in 1721 to house one of his sons; afterwards Prince Moulay Cherif came to settle in the region, which enjoys fertile soil, abundant water, enchanting scenery and palm trees.

Machine-translated from “قصر المعاركة” on the Arabic Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ksar of Lamaarka ranks #7,676 of 8,764 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #34 of the 40 mapped in Morocco. See how Morocco compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in Arabic) ↗