The dock at which it’s unloaded is an ex-German base at La Rochelle, on the west coast of France (the same submarine base seen in Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot). Raiders of the Lost Ark location: Indy in 1930’s ‘Cairo’: La Pallice, France | Photograph: flickr / Thierry Llansades Indy naturally finds the Ark, though it’s soon in the hands of the Nazis and shipped off to an island in the Mediterranean, ‘north of Crete’. The vast dry salt lake of Chott El Jerid, and the area around the oasis town of Nefta (pretty much the area used by George Lucas for The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones) stand in for the ‘Egyptian’ desert. The ‘Tanis’ dig site was an enormous set built on location near Tozeur, east toward the Algerian border. Organised tours generally include a carpet showroom in the itinerary, and you’ll be lucky to leave the city without having bought one.
In fact, there was supposed to have been an elaborate fight, but when Ford was stricken by a tummy bug, the scene was shortened, serendipitously giving the movie its biggest laugh.īelieving Marion killed in the truck explosion, Indy drowns his sorrows in the ‘Marhala Bar’ – now a carpet shop at the southern end of Avenue 7 Novembre, near the gate, Bab ech Chouhada. It’s a little to the east, on Place Zarrouk near the Mosque of the Three Gates, that Indy famously shoots the impressive swordsman. Most of the scenes are filmed in the city’s Medina, around the Avenue 5 Novembre, the main tourist drag. About 35 miles west of the coastal resort of Sousse, Kairouan is the fourth holiest city in Islam, home to the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba. Raiders of the Lost Ark location: Indy in 1930’s ‘Cairo’: Kairouan, Tunisiaġ930s ‘Cairo’ is the holy city of Kairouan, in northern Tunisia. The Gothic exterior of ‘Marshall College’, where Indy teaches, is the 1927 Conservatory of Music building of the University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Circle, Stockton, California – seen again in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Kauai’s luxuriant greenery is also seen in South Pacific, Donovan’s Reef, the 1976 version of King Kong, Tropic Thunder and Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Kauai is the fourth largest, and one of the most northern, of the Hawaiian islands, but perhaps the most beautiful, a volcanic outcropping of sharp peaks and steep-sided valleys, cloaked in lush vegetation, which has earned it the well-earned name of The Garden Isle. Kipu is a working cattle ranch, not generally open to the public, but you can take a tour with Kipu Ranch Adventures which takes in the filming locations. The ‘temple’ location is on the Huleia River, on the Kipu Ranch, south from Kaumualii Highway on the east coast, just south of Lihue, the island’s main town. The opening set-up of Indiana Jones ( Harrison Ford) in the ‘Peruvian’ jungle was filmed on the island of Kauai, one of the islands of Hawaii, to which the director would return for Jurassic Park. The film was based in the UK, which is why the studio sets, including Marion’s Raven Bar, the Peruvian temple and the Well of Souls, were built at the famous Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. Steven Spielberg hit all the right notes with his homage to Saturday morning features. Raiders of the Lost Ark location: the ‘Peruvian’ jungle: Kauai, Hawaii