Qaser Alhaj -The Pilgrim Castle

The Wonderful Fortified Berber Fortified Mud Granary of Qasr Al Haj.

These castles were originally used to store the local produce such as olive oil (in clay jars), and grains. Each family in the village would have a special designated place. The whole structure is usually circular and has a main entrance gate. It is these castles that bring to mind the statement mentioned by some historians in that the Libyans were the first to invent the banking system, and therefore you are looking at one of the oldest banks in the world. In a way, each one of these rooms has evolved to become a vault in modern banks where wealthy families can deposit their precious valuables for safe keeping.

Qasr Alhaj interior showing traditional wooden tools.

The above sign enlarged, telling the story of the castle in Arabic:

The castle was established in the middle of the 12th century by Shikh A'ebdella Ben Muhammad Ben Hilal Ghanem. The castle contains 114 rooms which is the exact number of the books in the holy Koran. The castle was used as a resting and a meeting point for the pilgrims in their way to the coastal cities and hence its name: Qaser al-H'aj (The Pilgrim's Castle).

Qaser Alhaj interior showing wooden, stone and metal tools.

The area between the mountain and the coast is a fertile strip of agricultural farms, and hence the verity of the farming tools found in the castle.

Quern-stones from Qasr al-Haj.

Hand stone-mill: an ancient grinding tool widely found in North Africa. The bottom section remains stationary (the quern), on which the top half is made to revolve. The small hole on the edge of the top section is for the wooden handle which used to turn the stone, while the middle hole is for pouring the grains. The quern is placed on an animal skin to collect the flour falling from between the two stones. The quern stones appear to have been invented in North Africa, as older forms are found across the Sahara, including earlier proto types made of a small stone with a cavity in the middle and a stone pestle.

This large stone quern is a later, more advanced, mill, from Leptis Magna Museum, Libya. It has two handles and appears to be a heavy-duty quern, designed for grinding large quantities of grain.