Qaser Al Haj or Gasr Al-Hajj
Qaser Al Hajj is home to Libya’s largest, most spectacular example of Amazigh architecture is a must-see even if you’re just Driving to Ghadames. The circular and completely enclosed fortified granary is wonder- fully preserved; recent landscaping at the entrance and renovation work on some of the houses in the surrounding old town, which fell into disuse in the 1950s, mean that this site will get even better in the future.
History
Qaser Al Haj was built to store the harvests of the surrounding area in the second half of the 12th cen- tury by Sheikh Abd-‘Allah ibn Mohammed Ganem Abu Jatla.
When the Qasr was first built, Sheikh Abu Jatla, a deeply religious man, extracted rent from each interested party in the form of barley and wheat, then distributed it among the poor and haj pilgrims or sold it for money for the upkeep of the mosque and to pay Quranic teachers in the Madrassa.
The walls are completely surrounded by cave-like rooms. There are 114 storage rooms in the Qaser exactly the same number as there are suras (verses or chapters) in the Quran, many of rooms are now subdivided into pens for different crop types or for various families who share the same space. The qasr’s area is 1188 sq metres, with each storage area about 5m ‘deep’ from the door to the back wall. There are three storeys of rooms above the ground and another 30 rooms underground.
Some of the rooms still boast the original palm-trunk doors, which have aged remarkably well. Note also the holes on either side of each door for threading the latch (usually made from the wood of olive trees).
Viewed from any angle, the qasr is spectacular.