KSAR TISSERGATE AND THE DRÂA VALLEY
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| Ksar Tissergate (photo: Bart Deseyn) |
In the south of Morocco fortified villages, or ksour (singular ksar), have been built for centuries along the oasis of the Drâa River. These impressive mud structures with their imposing walls belong to the most glorious vernacular architecture of North Africa and the world. They are testimonies of the rich history of a region that has always been a multicultural melting pot of Berber and Arab tribes, Jews and Drawi (or Haratine, inhabitants of the Drâa oases, who constitute a socially and ethnically distinct class of workers). That ethnic diversity explains both the richness of the local cultural heritage and the highly hierarchical society.
Hundreds of ksour are scattered in and along the palm oasis of the middle Drâa. According to oral tradition, Ksar Tissergate was founded five centuries ago. The village is located at about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of Zagora along the road that connects this provincial town with Ouarzazate. This ksar is one of the most spectacular and best preserved in the Moroccan south. The enclosure and the internal structure of the village are almost entirely intact. This situation is in striking contrast with the decline, or worse, the advanced state of decay of many other ksour in the Drâa Valley.
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| Ksar Tissergate (photo: Bart Deseyn) |
The defensive aspect of this ksar is very impressive. Only a hundred meters of the five meter (16 feet) high enclosure has been demolished due to collapse. The wall, which is interrupted by thirteen robust defensive towers, currently holds seven gates. Until the early 1970s there was only one gateway which was closed and guarded at night. This main entrance (built in chicane for safety reasons and to ensure privacy) opens onto the village square. Here stands the mosque and its outbuildings. The rectangular ground plan of the ksar is intersected by a number of alleys which gives the whole a tight, geometric checkerboard pattern. The narrow streets and passages are covered to ensure the climatic protection of the inhabitants. The street names refer to the origins of the families living there, such as the northeast quarter, which is designated by the clan name Aït Idder. The most prominent construction of the ksar, dressed with three towers, is Dar el Hiba. It has been soberly renovated and is currently a restaurant and inn. Another house in the heart of the ksar was restored in 2005 and is now furnished as a “maison d’hôte”. An adjacent house was made into a museum where a collection of traditional craftwork and clothing is on display.
The houses all have a similar structure. The incidence of light is limited to a minimum as a protection against the relentless sun. A dark corridor gives onto the wust-ed-dar, a two storey central space sparsely illuminated by a barred opening in the roof. Around this central and symbolic core of the house are the storage room and reception area. In the past the ground floor also housed the animals, but they are kept elsewhere nowadays. The first floor serves as living area and some extra storage space. On the top floor, around the roof, there is a kitchen and a toilet. Often there is also a separate room for the grandparents.
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| Ksar Tissergate, weaver (photo: Bart Deseyn) |
Currently, only one quarter of the houses are permanently occupied. Most families have built more accessible homes outside the walls, with a minimum of contemporary comfort. This modernization has been faithful to the traditional construction method in pisé (rammed raw earth). The empty houses in the ksar, however, are well maintained. During the hottest period of the year many families move to the ksar, a cool refuge during the hot desert summers. This highly valued aspect of the ksar is due to the isolative qualities of pisé and to the high density of urbanization. The houses in the ksar are built against each other, often without external facades and in any event without windows to the outside. Thanks to this double constructive wisdom, the indoor temperature in summer never exceeds 25°C (77°F) while the outside temperature in the shade can reach 45°C (113°F).
In addition, the houses offer the best temperature for the storage of dates, which typically constitute two-thirds of the family income. The rest of the budget consists mainly of contributions of emigrated family members. This financial input is growing more and more indispensable because farming revenues have been suffering under a number of negative external factors. The construction of a hydroelectric plant on the upper course of the Drâa, in Ouarzazate, did not bring the promised “progress” in the form of a modern irrigation system. Villagers say water has become even scarcer. On top of that the devastating palm date disease locally called bayoud is proliferating. The combination of these factors causes an irreversible desertification of this beautiful ancient oasis. It also implies a severe reduction of the already very modest income of the rural population and a resulting exodus to the coastal cities or abroad.
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| Beni Zoli Berber women (photo: Bart Deseyn) |
The current population of Tissergate (approximately 500 inhabitants, of which 100 live in the ksar) consists of a Sharifian elite called Shurfa and a servile stratum of society known as Haratin or Drawi. The population is entirely arabized but the Berber substrate is still very clear in the language, the toponymy, the women’s clothing, the social organization, the craftsmanship and the relative survival of the traditional construction methods. The hierarchical structure of society remains very clear. The Shurfa elite claim to be descendants of the prophet or a marabout (saint), which gives them great moral authority. They have an important spiritual role in society as imam or Koranic lector. Amongst them usually the village representatives are elected. They are landowners and thus engaged in farming and the herding of goats and sheep, which is considered to be a noble occupation. The Haratin or Drawi are found at the bottom of the social ladder and constitute the majority of the laborers and servants employed by the Shurfa. They mostly work in the classic khams sharecropping system where the Drawi get one-fifth of the crop.
I selected Ksar Tissergate (in collaboration with Mr. Jean Dethier) because today it is the most striking example in the Drâa Valley in terms of social structure, cultural heritage, agronomy, architecture and urbanism. However, I am well aware that it’s a marginal relic that is threatened, as are the vast majority of the other villages in the traditional pre-Saharan regions of Morocco. It is remarkable what Berber culture has created ex nihilo in these rough areas, in remarkable synergy with other populations. It remains a fortiori surprising that so little effort is done to preserve these glorious cultural testimonies.
I worked in Tissergate in 2005 & 2006.
* Tissergate was the first village in southern Morocco that benefited from a pilot program for rural habitat funded by the United Nations (WFP) at the end of the nineteen sixties. Jean Dethier took part in that project on behalf of the Moroccan Ministry of Urbanization and Habitat. This model project was the first in Morocco to take the remarkable sociocultural value of traditional earth architecture into account. The project, in which the residents were strongly involved, had different objectives. Firstly, certain hygienic measures were taken. The animals were removed from the houses and were regrouped into new external sheds, alleys were paved to suppress the dust that was the source of eye diseases with children, and the access to wells and water was improved. Secondly, on an architectural level, the community buildings and the spectacular ramparts were repaired. This collective construction project has generated a social dynamic that explains why Tissergate is after four decades one of the rare well-preserved and inhabited ksour of the area. The same commitment has prompted several people to renovate their homes and start a museum or an inn, without external assistance. This project has, in the long term, strengthened the collective confidence and pride that are essential to make the restoration and the protection of old habitats a success.