Al Qal'a of Beni Hammed

In a mountainous site of extraordinary beauty, the ruins of the first capital of Hammadides emirs, founded in 1007 and disbanded in 1152; authentic picture of a fortified Muslim city. The mosque, whose prayer room has 13 aisles and 8 bays, is one of the largest mosques in Algeria.

Qal’at al-Bahrain

Qal'at al-Bahrain is a typical Tell, i.e. an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The stratigraphy of the Tell is of 300 meters by 600 proves the continuous human presence from about 2300 BC until the sixteenth century of our era. At the top of the 12m high mound there is the impressive Portuguese lighthouse, which gave its name to the entire site (Qal’a signifies lighthouse). The site was the ancient capital of Dilmun, one of the most important ancient civilizations of the region. It contains the richest remains inventoried of this civilization, which was hitherto only known from written Sumerian references.

The Pyramids

We no longer present them as the most famous pyramids located around the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt; they subsist as extraordinary funerary whole with their rock tombs, ornate mastabas, their temples and pyramids. The site was considered in antiquity as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The Temple of Karnack

The Karnack temple near Thebes, the religious capital, is the largest and richest religious center of Egypt. His name is Egyptian Ipeti Sout, usually by the “one who put them on lists”. It is a vast open-air museum and the famous religious site oldest in the world. It seems that this is the second most visited site in Egypt after the great pyramids of Giza near Cairo.

The palace of the Alhambra

Remarkable Alhambra, overlooking the modern city built in the plain, the Alhambra and the Albayzin, located on two adjacent hills, form the medieval part of Granada, to the east of the fortress and residence of the Alhambra extend the beautiful gardens of Generalife, former residence of the emirs who ruled this part of Spain in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The residential area of Albayzin maintains a rich repository of Moorish vernacular architecture, in which the traditional Andalusian architecture blends harmoniously.

Petra

Inhabited since prehistoric times, this Nabatean caravan-city, situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Mi-mi-built and carved in the rock within a ring of mountains pierced corridors and catwalks, Petra is an archaeological site of the most famous, a place where the influences of ancient oriental traditions and architecture Hellenistic.

Cyrene

Colony of the Greeks of Thera, Cyrene was one of the principal cities of the Hellenic world. Romanized, it remained a great capital until the earthquake of 365. A thousand years of history is written in its ruins, famous since the eighteenth century.

Madrasah Ben Youssef

The Ben Youssef madrasah is a jewel of Arab-Andalusian architecture located Marrakech. The current structure of the Koranic school was built in 1570 by Saadian and restored in 1950. It is the work of Sultan Ghalib Al Saadian Abdullah which completed construction in 1564-1565.

Great Mosque Hassan 2

The Hassan II mosque is located in Casablanca (Morocco). Planned on the site of the former municipal swimming pool, construction began on 12 July 1986 and its inauguration took place on 30 August 1993. The front of the mosque can contain 80000 prayers and the prayer room can hold to 25 000 prayers. It is the second largest mosque in the world after Mecca.

Ksour

ksar the (singular Ksour) is primarily a storage cell consisting of ensiling, called Ghorfas for the use of one or more tribes. These tribes are primarily Berber, Arab and also from the seventh century with the Arab-Muslim conquest. They are mainly concentrated in the south-east (in the zone between Matmata and Tataouine) where there are about 150. Ksours These are part of the cultural heritage of this region of Tunisia and testify to its historical and sociological. They are a great enthusiasm on the part of tourists.

Amphitheatre of El Jem

In the small village of El Jem are the impressive ruins of the largest coliseum in North Africa, a huge amphitheatre that could take a seat 35 000 spectators. This construction of the third century shows the extent and greatness of the Roman Empire.

Qal'at Salah El-Din

Both castles illustrate the exchange of cultural influences and the development of military architecture in the Middle East at the time of the Crusades from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. The Crack of knights was built by the Order attendants of Saint John of Jerusalem from 1142 to 1271. It appears among the Crusader castles of the best preserved and is an archetype of the "medieval fortified castle" built by the military orders. It consists of eight circular towers built by the attendants and a massive square tower added by the Mamluks.

Ancient city of Shibam

Surrounded by a wall, this town of the sixteenth century is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. Its impressive structures shaped towers that rise out of the cliff have earned him the nickname of the "Manhattan of the desert."

Old City of Sana'a

Built in a mountain valley at 2 200 m altitude, Sana'a has been inhabited for more than 2 500 years. For seventh and eighth centuries, the city became an important center for the propagation of Islam. The same religious and political heritage in its 106 mosques, 12 hammams and 6 500 houses, all built before the eleventh century. The tower houses the many floors and old adobe houses add to the beauty of the site.

Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat) (2003)

The ancient city of Ashur is located on the Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia, in a specific geo-ecological zone, the boundary between agriculture with irrigation system that does not have. The city was born in the Third Millennium BC From the fourteenth to the ninth century BC, as the first capital of the Assyrian Empire; it was a city-state and a crossroads of international trade. It was also the religious capital of Assyrians, associated with the god Ashur. The city was destroyed by the Babylonians, but revived his ashes to the Parthian era, the first and second centuries.
Inscription of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger: 2003

Archaeological Site of Cyrene (1982)

Colony of the Greeks of Thera, Cyrene was one of the principal cities of the Hellenic world. Romanized, it remained a great capital until the earthquake of 365. A thousand years of history is written in its ruins, famous since the eighteenth century.

Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna (1982)

Enlarged and embellished by Septimius Severus, a native of these parts became emperor; Leptis Magna was one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire, with its great public monuments, its harbour, its market, workshops and its neighbourhoods.

Archaeological Site of Sabratha (1982)

A Phoenician draining the products of interior Africa, Sabratha was part of the ephemeral Numidian kingdom of Massinissa before being Romanized and rebuilt in the second and third centuries.

Hatra (1985)

A large fortified city under the influence of the Parthian Empire and capital of the first Arab Kingdom, Hatra withstood the Romans in 116 and 198 thanks to its thick walls reinforced by towers. The remains of the city, especially the temples where Hellenistic and Roman architecture blend with decor elements of Eastern origin, attest to the greatness of its civilization.

Tadrart Acacus Rock Sites (1985)

The border of Algerian Tassili n'Ajjer, also a World Heritage site, the rock is rich in thousands of rock paintings in very different styles in which the oldest dates back to 12 000 years BC. AD, the latest can be dated from the first century of the Christian era. These paintings reflect the changes of fauna and flora, and the various lifestyles of people who have succeeded in this part of the Sahara.

Old Town of Ghadames (1986)

Built in an oasis, Ghadames, the "pearl of the desert", is one of the oldest cities and an outstanding example of traditional habitat. Its domestic architecture is characterized by the different functions assigned to each level: ground floor serving as a reserve provisions, floor overlooking family covered blind passages that allow almost underground movement in the city and terraces open to women.