Ouarzazate Cinema Museum: What Is Inside and How to Visit

The Ouarzazate cinema museum (Musée du Cinéma) is a small museum of film sets, cameras, costumes and props, set in a former film studio directly opposite Kasbah Taourirt. It opened in 2007 and tells the story of Ouarzazate as a filming location in a visit of 30 to 45 minutes. One important point first: a fire damaged part of the museum in June 2024 and closed it, so check its current status before you plan your morning around it.

This guide explains where it is, the history of the building, what you can see inside, what is known about its status, and how to combine it with the kasbah and the big studios.

Where the cinema museum is

The museum sits on Avenue Mohammed V, at the eastern end of the town centre, across the road and the open square from the main entrance of Kasbah Taourirt. Its ochre walls and towers are built to look like an earthen kasbah, so it blends into the setting; look for the gate with the museum sign.

• On foot: from the main streets of the centre it is an easy walk along Avenue Mohammed V.
• By petit taxi: any driver knows it as the Musée du Cinéma or simply "opposite the kasbah".
• By car: there is parking around the square in front of the kasbah. From Residence Chay it is about 5 minutes by car; see our location page for the map.

From film studio to museum

The site began life as a film studio in the 1980s. Most sources say it was built in 1981 for an Italian production company; the association that runs the museum describes it as a studio from the mid 1980s. Either way, it belongs to the period when foreign productions started to use Ouarzazate as a base, shortly before Atlas Studios opened on the Marrakech road in 1983.

The studio was converted into a museum that opened on 30 July 2007. It covers about two hectares and is managed by the Association du Musée du Cinéma de Ouarzazate. It has never been a frozen museum: productions still rent its sets for filming, and it works with the town's cinema training institute and university on student projects and internships.

The museum sits within a wider push to keep film work in Ouarzazate. In June 2026, construction started on a separate project, the International Film City of Ouarzazate, a production, training and film tourism complex. It is a different site and not a replacement for the museum.

The 2024 fire and the current status

On the evening of 21 June 2024, a fire broke out in the museum during a foreign film shoot. Moroccan media reported that the blaze started in the sets, spread quickly through decor walls built largely of straw and other light materials, and took around four hours to bring under control. Nobody was hurt, but a large part of the sets, equipment and other material was destroyed, and the museum closed while an investigation took place. Reports differed on the cause: some pointed to special effects used during the shoot, others to an electrical fault.

The picture since then is less clear. Travel blogs written in late 2024 and 2025 describe the museum as closed. In February 2026, Moroccan press articles based on interviews with the museum association describe it as an active museum that still receives tourists and hosts film crews, with sets from Gladiator and The Mummy on show. We have not found an official reopening announcement.

Our honest advice: treat the museum as a short bonus rather than the reason for a trip into town, ask at your accommodation, or simply look at the gate when you visit Kasbah Taourirt. If you stay with us, the reception can tell you whether guests have found it open recently.

What is inside the Ouarzazate cinema museum

Before the fire, the museum was organised around several buildings and walled courtyards. What you see today may be smaller, and some displays may have been lost or rebuilt, but the collection described by the museum and visitors includes:

• Film sets you can walk into: throne halls, prison cells, a torture chamber and a "court of the jinn", plus sets with a pharaonic Egyptian or biblical theme, the genres for which the region is best known.
• Sets from big productions: the museum association highlights decor used for Gladiator and The Mummy, two of the most famous films shot around Ouarzazate.
• Cameras and projectors: old film cameras, lighting equipment and projectors, including early home cinema models.
• Costumes and props: Roman legionary uniforms, statues in the style of ancient Egypt, weapons and smaller props.
• Posters and photographs: posters of films shot in the region and photographs of actors and crews at work.
• Behind the scenes: displays on the stages of a production, from script and make-up to special effects.

Labels are limited and the presentation is simple. The pleasure is in seeing how plaster, wood and paint become ancient stone on screen, close up and without a crowd.

Tickets, timing and practical tips

• Entrance fee: published figures vary widely between sources and may predate the fire, so we do not quote one. Pay at the gate and carry dirhams in small notes.
• Opening hours: no reliable hours are published. Go in the morning or early afternoon rather than at the end of the day.
• Duration: 30 to 45 minutes for most people.
• Photos: photography in the sets has generally been allowed; ask at the entrance if in doubt, especially if a crew is filming.
• Filming days: when a production rents the sets, parts of the museum can be closed to visitors.
• Heat: in summer, combine it with the kasbah early in the morning, then retreat indoors for lunch.

A combined visit with Kasbah Taourirt

The museum works best as part of a morning at Kasbah Taourirt, the former Glaoui residence across the road. A simple plan:

1. Arrive at Kasbah Taourirt around 9:00, when it is cool and quiet, and spend about an hour in the restored rooms and on the terraces.
2. Cross the square to the cinema museum for 30 to 45 minutes, if it is open.
3. Have a mint tea or an early lunch in the centre, then visit the craft shops around the kasbah, which our guide to souks and crafts in Ouarzazate covers.

Our Kasbah Taourirt guide covers the history of the kasbah and what to see inside.

Cinema museum, Atlas Studios or CLA Studios

Ouarzazate has three film attractions, and they do not offer the same experience.

If film history is your main interest, the big studios come first: see our guides to Atlas Studios and CLA Studios. To see the real landscapes behind the sets, our guide to film locations around Ouarzazate takes you to Aït Ben Haddou, the desert plains and the valleys. Families will find more ideas in our guide to Ouarzazate with kids.