Tabernas Desert - the Hollywood of Europe

25. Jan.

from “A winter in the south” - a Leica Q2 series by Roland Steffen

Fort Bravo - The last film set for Western movie in the Tabernas Desert, Andalusia, Spain

The Tabernas Desert (Desierto de Tabernas in Spanish) is located around 30 kilometers north of Almería in the south-east of Andalusia. It extends over 280 square kilometers and is a Spanish natural park (Paraje Natural). According to climatic and vegetation criteria, it is a semi-desert and so-called badlands: a terrain that is dissected by deep, narrow erosion gullies. Measured by the aridity index, it is the most arid region in Europe and is therefore sometimes referred to as the only desert in Europe.

Photographer: Roland Steffen - Gear: LEICA Q2. Pictures not to be used without my explicit permission.

The Tabernas Desert is known for its breathtaking beauty and exceptional landscapes, which are home to a wide variety of animal and plant species. Due to its resemblance to the "Wild West", i.e. the deserts of North America, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Tabernas has served as the backdrop for numerous films, video clips and television commercials since the middle of the 20th century. As a result, the area was also known as "the Hollywood of Europe" in the 60s and 70s. Since the end of the 1950s, more than 300 films have been shot in the desert, mainly in the Western genre.

History of the Tabernas Desert

The history of the Tabernas Desert dates back to Roman times. The Romans used the desert as a location for their military exercises and as a backdrop for their films. Over the centuries, Tabernas has been used by various cultures and civilizations. In the Middle Ages, the desert was an important trade route between Africa and Europe. In the 19th century, the Tabernas desert became an important center for mining activities. However, mining activities ceased over time and the desert became an important tourist destination.

In the 19th century, the Tabernas Desert began to play a new role. It became the location for numerous western films and is now known as the "desert of the westerns". The unique landscape and sunny climate made the desert an ideal location for film productions, and numerous famous films were shot here in the 1960s and 70s, including "For a Fistful of Dollars" with Clint Eastwood.

Filming location for Game of Thrones, For a Fistful of Dollars, Game of Thrones and Black Mirror

The Tabernas Desert has a long history as a filming location for international movies and has attracted some of the biggest names in the film industry. The beginnings of the film industry in the Tabernas Desert date back to the 1950s, when Spanish directors chose the location as the backdrop for their films. The rocky landscape, the dry riverbeds and the barren hills were ideal for depicting the Wild West.

The first international film to be shot in the Tabernas desert was David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, which was filmed in 1962. Tabernas was the perfect backdrop for the sandstorms and desert landscapes shown in the movie.

The Tabernas Desert developed into the "capital" of the spaghetti westerns or Italian westerns of the 60s and 70s, although many American westerns were also shot here following the success of Italian director Sergio Leone's films. The most famous westerns filmed in the desert are the Dollar Trilogy (For a Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and Two Glorious Scoundrels (1966)) by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, as well as Play Me the Song of Death, Four Fists for a Hallelujah, The Manitou's Shoe and Rivals Under the Red Sun.

In addition to westerns, many films of other genres were shot in the Tabernas desert, among which the following stand out: Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra, Patton - Rebel in Uniform, Conan the Barbarian, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and 800 Bullets.

An episode of the British science fiction series Doctor Who entitled "A Town Called Mercy" was also filmed here and broadcast on BBC One in 2012. The third season of the series "Penny Dreadful" used the desert as a filming location for several episodes in 2015. In 2013, Ridley Scott filmed Exodus here, a movie about the life of the biblical character Moses, played by British actor Christian Bale. In 2016, the pop group Little Mix used the desert as the backdrop for the music video "Shout out to my ex" on their fourth album.

In 2016, scenes were filmed for the sixth season of Game of Thrones, representing the territory of the Dothraki, the Dothraki Sea (in the original: Dothraki Sea). The following year, the Tabernas Desert served as the location for the exterior scenes of the Black Museum episode of the fourth season of the Black Mirror series.

In addition to its role as a film set, the desert is also a natural park with unique ecosystems and fascinating flora and fauna. The desert is a paradise for bird lovers, as rare bird species such as the black vulture and the rock owl live here.