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Rang

Pastel cubes of the M'zab

Ghardaïa

A Saharan hill town of flat-roofed houses in sand pink, ochre and pale blue, crowned by one plain minaret.

View of the Ghardaïa ksar from the market square.
Photo: Camille Gillet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Ghardaïa is sand pink

Ghardaïa is the largest of five walled towns in the M'zab valley, in the Algerian Sahara. They were founded in the 11th century by the Mozabites, a community of Ibadi Muslims. Each town covers a small hill. Flat-roofed houses of stone and plaster step up the slope in rings to a mosque at the top, whose tapering minaret also served as a watchtower. Walls are finished in soft, pale colours: sand pink, ochre, white and light blue. The plain forms come from an ethic of equality and modesty, with no house meant to outshine another. Modern architects, among them Le Corbusier, admired the valley. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1982.

Sand pink#E3BFA3Pale ochre#E3C78FSky blue wash#A9C9E3Lime white#F3F0E6Palm green#4F7F45

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Ghardaïa

OchreA natural earth pigment ranging from yellow to deep orange or brown
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Ghardaïa" on Wikipedia. If you know Ghardaïa and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

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🇮🇳 The Pink CityJaipurThe walled city wears a dusty terracotta pink, first painted on for a royal visit in 1876 and kept ever since.🇮🇳 Town of Holi coloursVrindavanFor Holi the temple town of Krishna's childhood fills with clouds of pink, yellow and green powder.🇧🇩 Rickshaw art capitalDhakaHundreds of thousands of cycle rickshaws carry hand-painted panels of film stars, birds and flowers.🇸🇬 Singapore's Peranakan pastelsJoo ChiatRows of early 20th-century shophouses in soft pink, mint and blue, trimmed with plaster flowers and tiles.🇮🇷 City of the Pink MosqueShirazA mosque tiled in pink roses, where morning sun through coloured glass paints the carpets.🇦🇲 The Pink CityYerevanArmenia's capital is built of volcanic stone in shades of pink, rose and orange.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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