Where is the real Tatooine and what remains of Star Wars there (12 photos)

The name Tatooine is familiar to everyone who watched the famous movie hit “Star Wars” - that was the name of the home planet of Aniken Skywalker, the future Darth Vader. But not everyone knows that Tatooine exists on Earth, and it is a simple city in the south of Tunisia.





Quite real Tatooine (it's a collage, but the sign is real, and the landscape is real)

True, they say that filming was not carried out directly in the city, and the appearance of Tatooine was “removed” from a couple of other cities in Tunisia and several individual locations.

But the very name of the planet, the author of “Star Wars” George Lucas, came up with while working on the film and, of course, after meeting Tunisia, when the first episodes of the saga were being filmed. By the way, in the original version of the script, Skywalker's home planet was called Utapau - this name would later be used in another Star Wars series.

It is often written that Tatooine is a slightly modified name of the city, but the situation, apparently, is somewhat different. Yes, in English these names are written differently - as Tatooine (planet) and Tataouine (city).



Typical ksar - granary-fortress in Tunisia

But the words sound exactly the same, in fact, like the name of the city in the original, in the Berber language. At different times, the name of the city itself was written in English differently, until the latest version of the transliteration was established. In the original, if you use the Berber Latin alphabet, the name of this city is written as Tiṭṭawin. Which simultaneously means “eyes” and “sources of water.”

The name must be perceived, apparently, according to the second meaning of the word, since earlier the city was called Fum Tataouin, which translates as “mouth of the springs” - one can assume that there were once many of these springs here.





Typical ksar - granary-fortress in Tunisia

It is interesting that the city itself was founded not by local residents, but by the French - Tatooine appeared in 1892, and until 1951 there was a French military unit here.

Already by the beginning of the 20th century, a mosque, typical Berber buildings, etc. appeared in the city. Actually, even now the main attraction of the city is the so-called ksars - granary-fortresses. However, if you open the map, you can see that these ksars are located not only in cities, but also along roads, and there are quite a lot of them. At the same time, outwardly they are quite monotonous - adobe houses made using the same technology, one might say, standard buildings.



Still from the series “The Phantom Menace” - Eniken says goodbye to his mother against the backdrop of a real Tunisian ksar

They were built to store grain and other supplies, and at the same time as fortresses to protect supplies from raids by local nomadic tribes. The height of such a fortress sometimes reaches 15 meters.

The architecture of ksars is very interesting - they usually consist of several dozen identical rooms, which are built on top of each other in several floors (these rooms are called gorf). Stairs were built to some of the “doors,” and the rooms were connected to each other by a special system of passages. Sometimes the rooms were also used for housing.



Tatooine and nearby ksars, where Star Wars was filmed

Behind these “fortress walls” there was a courtyard, which became a place of communication and trade, and was often decorated with olive trees, special outdoor decorative bowls, etc. People in such courtyards were simultaneously protected from threats and from the sun, having the opportunity to hide in the shadow of the walls.

The ksars known from the Star Wars filming are Ksar Ouled Sultan, which is considered practically the outskirts of the city of Tatooine; scenes filmed in the villages of Chenini and Douiret (marked on the map above) also took up a lot of time in the frame. Currently, they are all abandoned, but, of course, remain accessible to tourists.



Ksar Hadada with buildings painted in the background - still from The Phantom Menace

Perhaps one of the most recognizable is Ksar Hadada - this is the location where the scene where Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn meets Aniken was filmed, that is, the quarter of the city of Mos Espa in which young Skywalker lived (that is, we are talking about the filming of 1999) . Of course, there was then a lot of painting (as in many other scenes), but the main plans are quite recognizable. The house where Eni and her mother lived is still there - this is a typical ksar.

There are also “traces” left from the work on the very first films of the star saga, which tells the story of Luke Skywalker.



The same hotel for troglodytes in Tunisia, which played the role of Luke Skywalker's home

For example, the place where Luke lived with his uncle Owen Larsov - a huge pit with doors at the bottom - is still an operating hotel in the city of Matmata, one of the most popular local attractions associated with Star Wars.

The hotel itself opened in 1969 (7 years before filming). It is a typical troglodyte dwelling, that is, it is a cave house, or rather a house - the hotel unites several old dwellings of this kind. Externally, it is a hole in the ground with a staircase down, doors in the walls of the hole, authentic furniture and various utensils. But those who have stayed there claim that you have to be a big Star Wars fan to force yourself to live here for more than one night.



The same hotel in Attack of the Clones

Interestingly, the film crew returned here in 2002, when Attack of the Clones was filmed. As you know, the new episodes told the backstory of the events discussed in the first films. According to the plot, the matured Aniken is looking for his mother and ends up in the house where his son, Luke Skywalker, will live in the future. George Lucas did not split hairs and, more than 20 years later, filmed the same place from the film in exactly the same real place in Tunisia.

Of course, there are a number of other locations in Tunisia that are related to the Star Wars films themselves and their filming.



If you look closely at the inscription on the “facility”, you will see that tourists also made it to Decor Star Wars Tunisie

Let's say there is a place where the film crew built a lot of decorations - now it is called Decor Star Wars Tunisie, and is located near the dry salt lake Chott el-Jerid.

Many scenes were filmed here, the action of which takes place in Mos Espa - that is, it was built back in 1976. It is said that the buildings are well preserved due to the dry climate, but it is also known that local residents try to keep the place in order - I think not out of love for Star Wars, but rather as a place that actively attracts tourists and allows them to make money.



Shops with souvenirs in Decor Star Wars Tunisie

Although now the tourist flow has decreased, you can still find the same sellers of souvenirs and related goods there. Getting here is also a separate task if we are talking about renting a car, say, and therefore another way to make money from tourists.

By the way, the most inaccessible attraction can be considered a small house, which is the “ground” entrance to the home of Luke and his uncle and aunt. In the film, it is shown standing next to the very “pit”, which is actually a hotel - but in reality it is located somewhat further from the built scenery, on the territory of the same dry lake Chott el-Jerid, in a deserted place. Which apparently provided a completely deserted background during filming.



The home of Luke Skywalker and his adoptive parents - behind it is a completely deserted landscape

True, now there is an exact copy of the building that was erected for filming in 1976. A “remake” of the building was built on the old foundation in 2012 by a group of enthusiasts.

This is also an interesting story - the restoration project was invented by the guys who took tourists to the filming locations, and were very surprised that Lars Homestead (they usually call this place “Larson’s farm”) was in a ruined state. The permission for restoration work almost received from the Tunisian authorities was “broken off” due to the revolution that took place in Tunisia at the end of 2010. It was possible to begin the plan only in May 2012.



Lars Homestead: from above - in the film "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" and after construction in 2001, from above - in 2010 and in 2012 after restoration by enthusiasts.

Later, Tatooine made the news more than once in the context not of Star Wars, but of completely earthly military operations. But so far all Tunisian attractions related to the Star Wars universe seem to be intact.