Where Is Agrabah in 'Aladdin'?
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| Photo via Disney Wiki |
Welcome to Agrabah, city of mystery and enchantment, where the caravan camels roam,
Clues to the real-life location of Agrabah, the setting for Disney's 1992 blockbuster Aladdin, pepper and spice the said movie. The narrator sings upfront that the tale takes place in Arabia, but he also tells us, confoundingly, that Agrabah lies by the Jordan River, which traverses present-day Israel and Jordan.
But Aladdin's layout supervisor Rasoul Azadani did not look to those places for inspiration. He styled Agrabah after his native Iran instead, particularly his hometown of Isfahan. Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and Genie would fit squarely in here.
But Aladdin's layout supervisor Rasoul Azadani did not look to those places for inspiration. He styled Agrabah after his native Iran instead, particularly his hometown of Isfahan. Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and Genie would fit squarely in here.
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| The Masjed-e Imam (Imam Mosque) in Isfahan, Iran. Photo via Fulvio Spada |
Even the pretend-Agrabah in Tokyo DisneySea seems to rip off Isfahan's landmarks.
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| 'Arabian Coast' at the DisneySea resort. Via Tokyo Travel Blog |
Many eagle-eyed viewers, however, have likened the Sultan's Palace in Agrabah to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The linguistic sameness of Agra and Agrabah might be more by design than accident too.
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| Taj Mahal at sunset. Via shalender |
But we've been grasping at straws all along. The story of Aladdin as it originally appears on Arabian Nights is set in China. The country's Xinjiang region is home to many Uyghur Muslims.
