Ghardaïa  is the capital city of Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. Unfortunately, the city is lately known for violent clashes and issues such as drug trafficking, but it hasn’t always been like that.

Ghardaïa is part of a pentapolis, a hilltop city amongst four others, built almost a thousand years ago in the M’Zab valley.  The area was inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982.

Distinctive white, pink, and red houses, made of sand, clay and gypsum impressed the visitors for a long time – even Simone de Beauvoir couldn’t resist its beauty – in her 1963 book, La force des choses, she escribed Ghardaïa as “a Cubist painting beautifully constructed”.

Here are some photos to prove her point.

Colorful terraces and rooftops as distinctive features

Central market in Ghardaia in 1970s

M’zab architecture