Amongst other things Tunisia is famous as the shooting location for Star Wars. Does this hotel in Tunis (the capital of Tunisia) remind you of a certain Jawa travelling vehicle?
I mean they are very similar aren't they, and I guess that where the story came from that the hotel in Tunis inspired the sandcrawler design, but unfortunately it's not true, there is concept art showing the sandcrawler before it was decided to film in Tunisia, so if it did inspire it then it was a coincidence.
But it is an interesting building none the less - built between 1970 and 1973 and designed by Italian architect Raffaele Contigiani it follows a interesting tradition of brutalist buildings in Africa - where many countries were gaining independence and wanting to seem modern.
The building by the way is called the Hotel du Lac (as it's near the lake of Tunis) and had 416 rooms with the top floor twice the length of the bottom floor. It was a functioning hotel until the year 2000 but is now derelict.
there has been talk of demolition, there has been talk of renovation and I would say, given it's been closed for 24 years it's in remarkedly good shape - I mean some missing windows and panels, but really, 24 years with no maintenance and and it's still doing okay.
I would abolsutely love to see it renovated and brought back to the former glory - Should also mention there is another hotel in Tunis now using the Hotel Du Lac name which is also deisappointing
