Ksar
{{Short description|Type of fortified village in North Africa}}
{{About||the town and commune in Mauritania|Ksar, Mauritania|the racehorse|Ksar (horse)}}
{{Redirect|Qsar|the QSAR models|Quantitative structure–activity relationship}} {{for|the television and radio stations that used the callsign KSAR from 1953 to 1972|Ryukyu Broadcasting Corporation}}
Image:Aït Benhaddou1 (js).jpg, Morocco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987]]
Ksar or qṣar ({{Langx|ar|قصر|translit=qṣar}}), in plural ksour or qsour ({{Langx|ar|قصور|translit=qṣur|links=no}}), is a type of fortified village in North Africa, usually found in the regions predominantly or traditionally inhabited by Berbers (Amazigh).{{Cite web |last=Golvin |first=Lucien |date=1989 |title=Architecture berbère |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2582 |access-date=11 September 2023 |website=Encyclopédie berbère}} The equivalent Berber term used is {{Transliteration|ber|ighrem}} (singular) or {{Transliteration|ber|igherman}} (plural).{{Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|volume=12|title=Ḳaṣr|last=Van Staëvel|first=J.-P.}}
Etymology
The Arabic qaṣr ({{Lang|ar|قَصَر}}) was probably borrowed from the Latin word {{Lang|la|castrum}}.{{cite book |first1=Hans |last1=Wehr |first2=J. M. |last2=Cowan |title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |edition=Third |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |publisher=Spoken Language Services |page=768 }}
Architecture
{{Unsourced section|date=September 2023}}Image:Ksar timimoun.jpg, Algeria]]
File:Matmata 00.JPG, an abandoned ksar in southern Tunisia{{Cite book |last1=Binous |first1=Jamila |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wT7dBAAAQBAJ |title=Ifriqiya: Thirteen Centuries of Art and Architecture in Tunisia |last2=Baklouti |first2=Naceur |last3=Ben Tanfous |first3=Aziza |last4=Bouteraa |first4=Kadri |last5=Rammah |first5=Mourad |last6=Zouari |first6=Ali |publisher=Museum With No Frontiers & Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Heritage, Tunis |year=2010 |isbn=9783902782199 |edition=2nd |series=Islamic Art in the Mediterranean |location= |pages=269 |language=en |chapter=X.6 Chénini (of Tataouine)}}]]
Ksour in the Maghreb typically consist of attached houses, often having a fortified communal granary like those in Algeria, or the ghorfa and agadir types known in Tunisia and Morocco respectively, beside other structures like a mosque, hammam, oven, and shops. Ksur or igherman are widespread among the oasis populations of North Africa. Ksars are sometimes situated in mountain locations to make defense easier; they often are entirely within a single, continuous wall. The building material of the entire structure usually is adobe, or cut stone and adobe. The idea of the ksar as a granary is a confused notion of two things: the granary itself, found within a ksar, and the ksar, a village, typically with granaries within it. Ksars form one of the main manifestations of Berber architecture.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Ksour}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100513091209/http://ksour-tunisiens.com/ www.ksour-tunisiens.com] – complete documentation of all ksour of southern Tunisia, Herbert Popp & Abdelfettah Kassah
{{Fortifications}}
{{Islamic architecture}}
Category:Arabic words and phrases
Category:Arabic fortifications