Ksar Hadada (Arabic: قصر حدادة), sometimes known as Ksar Hedada, is a village in southeastern Tunisia. It is well known as being a filming location for 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.[1][2][3] The population at the 2004 census was 1298,[4] and 1142 in 2014.[5]
Ksar Hadada is surrounded by a mountain range. The village is also home to a valley between 25 and 50 meters deep called Gattar.
Several fossils have been found in and around the village.
The climate is semi-arid, as the Sahara is only fifty kilometers away, and rain is rare but abundant when it does occur. Temperatures can reach 48°C during the day in summer and go down to 0°C at night in winter.
A mosque was built in the 1950s. There are also two cafés, a post office, a library, a football stadium and a dozen shops.
The village has a kindergarten and a primary school. On the other hand, the ksar does not have a middle or high school, but there are relationships established to link the village with the two middle schools and two high schools of the town of Ghomrassen.
Ksar Hadada is run by a mayor and a village council. Seeing as almost all local government is located in Ghomrassen, projects concerning the village are discussed with the mayor of Ghomrassen and the town's council, and occasionally with the governor of Tataouine.
| Mayor | From | To | Political party |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mohamed Yahiaoui | circa 1991 | 2011 | Democratic Constitutional Rally |
| 2011-2014: no mayor, only the village council | |||
| Tarek Yahiaoui | 2014 | 2016 | Independent |
| Abdelmonem Yahiaoui | 2016 | incumbent | Independent |
| Election | Year | First place | Second place | Participation | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential | 2014 | Moncef Marzouki | 91.11% | Beji Caid Essebsi | 8.22% | 61.53% | [6] |
| Legislative | 2014 | Ennahda | 63.09% | Chaâb Yourid (independent list) | 10.41% | 64.17% | [7] |
| 2011 | Ennahda | 61.8% | Progressive Democratic Party | 8.4% | 86.6% | [8] | |
The local economy depends mainly on olive cultivation as well as goat and sheep farming. Most of the village's residents no longer live there and only return during the holidays; this emigration is caused by a lack of employment. Ksar Hadada remains strongly tied to the nearby town of Ghomrassen, as it is the seat of the municipality.
Part of the ksar has been turned into a hotel where tourists can stay. In June 1997, American film director George Lucas used the area to shoot on-location scenes for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) to represent Mos Espa on the planet Tatooine, the birthplace of Anakin Skywalker.
An onshore oil field in the south of Tunisia is named Ksar Hadada.[9][10]