taroudant: Teleouet - The Glaoui Stronghold Crumbles

Teleouet kasbah dominating the caravan route across the Atlas was the souce of the Glaoui wealth. The tolls from the trade allowed them to buy up land in drought years and reinvest the income in the brothels of Marrakesh. The kasbah was built in 3 phases the last in the 20th century. As Pasha Glaoui's influence grew it was sumptously furnished and reached its apogee in 1945 when Churchill, De Gaulle and Patton attended a fantasia there. It has not been inhabited since 1954 and the Glaoui downfall. Unlike some of the Glaoui Kasbahs it is only pise in parts and the core is stone built. Some of the rooms are in fine condition with their zellij work and leather and beamed ceilings intact. It is a good example of turn of the century moroccan ornamentation but if you look closely although it is impressive you can see how the art has deteriorated since the Nasrid dynasties built the Alhambra. The patterns are less complex and in the main use fewer and simpler symetries.
The inhabitants of the older parts of the local village are noticeably darker skinnned than the majority of moroccans and are descendants of the sub-saharan africans imported by the Glaoui as servants ( for which given the role of the caravanserai route I read "slaves") and the older part of the village was built as their quarters.
We were shown round by Aissa, named, he told us, for the prophet Isaiah. His father had come from Mohammed, the town in the south, and he placed his identity in this tribe although he clearly had residuary respect for Pasha Glaoui, collaborator or not. Aissa had quite excellent english and explained that nowadays Teleouet was a carpet town specialising in knotted carpets. They make, he claimed , the 3rd best carpets in the world, the best being from Isfahan in Iran followed by Buhkara in Afghanistan and then Glaoui.