Old Town of Ghadamès
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How it came to be
Ghadames is an oasis town in the desert of western Libya, built around the spring of Ain al-Faras. Arab sources called it the Pearl of the Desert. The Romans knew it as Cydamus; by the 6th century it had a bishop, and in the late 7th century, under Arab rule, its people converted to Islam.
Until the 19th century the town was a base for the caravan trade across the Sahara. Most houses have two storeys, with stores on the ground floor and the family living above. The lanes run as covered passages beneath the houses, while the rooftop terraces formed a separate route reserved for women.
In the 1970s the government built new housing outside the walls, and residents moved out; no one now lives permanently in the old town. Ghadames was inscribed in 1986, placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2016, and removed from that list in 2025.
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