2024-12-22T07:46:32-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/123741480/isis-threatens-southern-tunisian-towns-including-the-star-wars-set-for-tatooine Nicholas Korody 2015-03-25T14:50:00-04:00 >2015-04-04T23:41:04-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/rs/rscrugte102vu3u6.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Tataouine, the town in Tunisia where George Lucas filmed parts of Star Wars, has become embroiled in the country&rsquo;s unrest with Isis. The town&rsquo;s simple domed structures became iconic after they were used for Luke Skywalker&rsquo;s home planet of Tatooine, and die-hard fans often make pilgrimages to them. But the town has become increasingly unsafe, as it is a waypoint for Isis fighters travelling to and from training bases in Libya, 60 miles to the east.</p></em><br /><br /><p>The article doesn't note that the design of the set is based off the architecture of the adjacent Berber-speaking village of Matmata. Tourists are driven in old Land Rovers by guides across the sweeping dunes of the Northern Sahara to the more famous set, which isn't actually inhabited, but is named after the nearby city/region of Tataouine. I visited the site in 2011 &ndash; less as a Star Wars enthusiast and more as a student, then engaged in research on the revolution. At the time, the area was considered a bit dangerous but for slightly different reasons: borders in the Sahara are much more porous than they appear on a map, and armed militants from Libya had been sighted in the region. Now that those forces have pledged allegiance to ISIL, the permeability of Tunisia's borders becomes an even graver issue.</p><p><img title="" alt="" src="http://cdn.archinect.net/images/514x/mb/mb2nhitzuc78jw5j.jpg"></p><p>Matmata is a rather sleepy town containing incredibly beautiful and unique architecture. That being said, with the exception of the bar adapted for use in the first Star Wars, none o...</p>