Amazigh Architecture
Amazigh architecture is renowned the world over for its colorful patters and bold triangular and square-based shapes. As part of Amideast’s Morocco Education Abroad program, students every semester have the unique opportunity to visit a small valley in the High Atlas Mountains and see some of the oldest architecture in that region put to functional use.
In this village, called Zawiyat Ahnsal, Amazigh tribes have been living and migrating through this region for centuries. When they decided to settle down in the main valley, they began an agricultural lifestyle that included animal husbandry and farming of a number of grains including wheat. The buildings in this region are all centered around this mountainous agricultural lifestyle. The most important building is the “igharem” or communal grainery. Also called an “agadir” in other dialects, this is a tall square building with small rooms where each family can store their grain for food or for sale. These rooms are owned by a family and passed down as inheritance. In Zawiyat Ahnsal, there are four villages and four igharems, the oldest being over 600 years old. They are made of stone from the local mountains, wood from nearby cedar or other pine trees, and rammed earth and/or adobe. Uniquely Amazigh features of these buildings are the four towers in the corners with triangles as decorations, and the markings on the sides that represent grain, mountains, and other figure of the local landscape. The four igharems in this valley have been all restored to pristine condition in the last 5-10 years by a collaboration between local associations and craftsmen, and an American NGO that also partners with Amideast.
Other architectural elements of each village here include a hammam, or local bathhouse, a mosque, a communal oven, and a school. These are five buildings that are found in any Muslim community in Morocco and North Africa, and the ones in Zawiyat Ahnsal are no exception. They do however feature the same stone structures as the igharem - which are unique to this region of Morocco - and some will also feature the same triangular decorations on top. The minarets of most Amazigh mosques, for example, whether in Zawiyat Ahnsal or some other Amazigh region, will be decorated with triangles like the igharems are.
Students always remark how Zawiyat Ahnsal looks and feels so different from Rabat, and are grateful to experience and see something different during their time in Morocco. We at Amideast are honored to work with our partners in Zawiyat Ahnsal and learn about Amazigh architecture through their work.
Colleen Daley is the Program Manager for Education Abroad in Rabat, Morocco.
