Tighremt
The Tamazight word for kasbah, denoting a fortified residence built of rammed earth with corner towers, typically of three stories. Used principally in Central Atlas Tamazight regions.
Tighremt is the Central Atlas Tamazight term for a fortified residence — the same building type that Arabic-speakers call kasbah. The word is a feminine diminutive of igherm (fortified village or granary) and designates a single fortified house rather than a collective settlement.
In the High Atlas, the eastern Anti-Atlas, the Drâa and Dadès valleys, and the oases of the Ziz, tighremt and kasbah refer to the same structure. The choice of term tracks the language of the speaker rather than any architectural distinction. Local masons working in Tamazight communities use tighremt; written sources in French and Arabic typically use kasbah.
The tighremt is, in most cases, a three-story rammed-earth structure with four corner towers, a central courtyard, and a defensible ground floor used for animals and storage. The upper floors house the family. The roof terrace serves domestic functions — food preparation, weaving, drying — and in colder regions of the High Atlas the roof terrace is omitted in favour of an enclosed upper level.
The best-preserved tighremts are concentrated around Tafraoute, Aït Ben Haddou, N'Kob, the Dadès Valley, and the oasis valleys of the Drâa and the Ziz. The form is in steep decline; most surviving examples are either ruined, abandoned, or maintained only because they have been converted into museums or guesthouses.