Before the 2011 Libyan Revolution, the city of Ghadames was famous for its three-day festival, which used to take place in October and attract large numbers of tourists from all over the world, imparting an ambiance of vitality and amusement in the city. Now, however, there is no news about the city or its festival, as if Ghadames had been wiped out without a trace.

Ghadames lies roughly 462 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, only nine kilometers from the Tunisian border and 15 kilometers from the Algerian border – about 375 meters above sea level.

Before the 2011 Libyan Revolution, the city of Ghadames was famous for its three-day festival, which used to take place in October and attract large numbers of tourists from all over the world, imparting an ambiance of vitality and amusement in the city. Now, however, there is no news about the city or its festival, as if Ghadames had been wiped out without a trace.

Ghadames lies roughly 462 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, only nine kilometers from the Tunisian border and 15 kilometers from the Algerian border – about 375 meters above sea level.

The walls of the city were built by the order of Caracalla, son of Emperor Septimius Severus, during the conflict between the Romans and the Garamantes in the third century AD. A few centuries ago, it was not at all possible to enter that place at night since the guards at the city’s seven gates— which used to be tightly closed at sundown—knew all residents. The population of that well-guarded garrison had resourcefully administered the place for years; otherwise, it would have felt utterly bleak and unlivable.

This ancient city has seen several civilizations, including Garamantes, Greeks, Romans, Berbers, Africans, Arabs, Turks, Italians, and French, lasting until 1955. It is a mixture of cultures and ethnicities. Ghadames played an important role as a base for the trans-Saharan trade and it was famous for its leather industry in 19 B.C that gave it its Roman name Cydamus – the land of leather – which in turn gave way to the name Ghadames.

Located at 30.7 degrees latitude north , Ghadames is an oven with a temperature that can run as high as 50° celsius at daytime, only to drop down to as low as 18° Celsius at night.

Sunglasses, wide-brimmed hats, as well as turbans and veils are distinctive features of the inhabitants’ clothing. In the center of the old town lies ‘Ain-ul-Faras’, an oasis where people dive to avoid hot weather, causing a great clamor in the process. In old times, the three-story houses used to get their water needs from this oasis and send the waste water through ducts leading to the cultivated land, in a skillfully designed manner too advanced for that time.

Local business

Ahmad, a shoemaker in the old town bazaar, receives his companions in his spacious shop to chat, sip tea, and remember the old good days. “I am not bothered by tourists since they invigorate life in the town and help me earn a living from a business I inherited from my father and grandfather,” says Ahmad, while trying to finish a pair of long-toed shoes already ornamented by women at home.

Near his work table full with colored leather pieces, beads, and buttons, stands another table of similar items. He says his son also makes traditional Ghadames shoes and trendy leather belts with ancient patterns.

Red is the distinctive color featuring all the handmade items Ahmad displays inside his three-meter long showcase. Tourists walk past his shop stop to see these products and ask about prices, each coming out with different types of products. “This is the source of our income,” explains Ahmad. “We wait a whole year for this good season.”

Ghadames, says Ahmad, imports raw leather from Chad, Mali, and Niger, in addition to embroidery threads and decorative studs from Tunisia at reasonable prices.

Hidden women

Ahmad’s women customers do not walk in the narrow, domed, and unpaved alleys, which still keep their whitewashed benches on either side of the carefully carved wooden doors. Women have their own paved, uncovered routes where they boastfully wear traditional soft shoes, visit each other through their own doors, and express admiration of their children in their own ways.

Even today, it is rare to see Ghadames women, while Tuareg women are everywhere:  whether in the market or at musical dances and performances, wearing their bright green dresses – a change from the dull sandy patches. They cover their heads with silver shawls showing the front part of their hair. Their beautiful faces reflect extreme cautiousness towards those who may get too close to them.

Some young girls are reluctant to allow tourists to take a picture with them; they spitefully keep themselves away, while a daring young girl participates. At that point, the rest of the girls, dressed in bright green stand in front of the camera for a picture, while older women in their thirties look on indifferently at the photography party nearby.

The Tuareg women, whose cheerful songs accompanied by drums, in the presence of their masked men, who wear distinctive traditional clothes and carry old fighting weapons, are extremely attractive. They move their feet and shoulders to the beat of drums. The joyful cheers of women and the murmuring sound of men in Tifinagh have a pure charm in the cold Ghadames night.

White, cool walls

The Ghadames populations build their houses out of mud, which acts as a thermal insulator. The whitewashed walls are another way to block the scorching, merciless heat. The houses rarely overlook outside; the windows are only found on the second and third floors, and often consist of small niches only allowing a little light in. They are mainly used for ventilation more than looking at the world outside. The main gates are usually more conspicuously decorated to distinguish pilgrims from others who could not make it to Mecca.

The inner courtyard and rooms have beautiful motifs and bold colors, especially red. There is an extensive use of mirrors inside, aimed to bring more light to the interior parts of the houses whose hidden secrets and untold stories unmistakably present in handcraft sofas, modest furniture, and brides’ valuables.

All that has remained of the rich and war-ridden ancient Ghadames are palm forests and the old town’s abandoned houses, whose dwellers moved to modern high-rises just a few years ago, while this old part of the town has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.