The outskirts of Matmata, Tunisia, a small town tucked up in bare hilly country, are pockmarked with the circular courtyards of subterranean houses. In one of the houses once lived a local boy made good: Luke Skywalker.
The house where the Star Wars hero began his journey is now a hotel and tourist attraction. A tourism slump after Tunisia’s 2011 revolution has hit the area hard.
Anyone who has seen Star Wars will recognize Luke’s house. It consists of sunken courtyards joined by tunnels, with adjacent rooms – a relic of the local Amazigh people, who decided centuries ago that living underground was the best way to keep cool. Arabic has largely replaced their language, but their houses remain.
In 1976, George Lucas used southern Tunisia’s arid landscapes for Luke’s home planet of Tatooine, adapting the name from the southern Tunisian city of Tatooine. The house figures prominently in the first Star Wars movie.
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