Maps of Movies
The English Patient (1996)
Where The English Patient says it takes place, and where it was really shot.
The Cairo hotel is in Venice, the desert crash is in a Tunisian canyon, and the famous Cave of Swimmers is a film set.
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Scenes and places
The biplane over the desert (1941)
A British biplane is shot down over the desert. Bedouin pull the badly burned pilot from the wreck, and he becomes the nameless patient the story is built around.
Set in Sahara desert (exact spot not named) — A British biplane carrying a pilot and a woman is shot down over the desert.
The Midès canyon lies in the Tozeur region of western Tunisia.
Filmed at Midès Canyon, Tunisia — Desert scenes were filmed in the Midès gorge in Tunisia. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
The bombed-out monastery in Italy (1944)
Hana moves her patient into a bombed-out monastery because he may not survive another transfer. In the quiet there she reads to him and slowly draws his past out of him.
Set in Bombed-out monastery, Italy (Tuscany) — In October 1944 Hana settles in a ruined monastery with her dying patient; Kip and Caravaggio join them. Google Maps · Apple Maps
A former Benedictine monastery in the province of Siena, near Pienza.
Filmed at Sant'Anna in Camprena Abbey, near Pienza — Exterior and interior of the film's ruined monastery. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
The expedition camp in the Sahara
Almásy leads a map-making expedition with Madox and the Cliftons. The group arrives as friends; Katharine and Geoffrey fly the survey plane.
Set in Sahara expedition camp (exact spot not named) — A Royal Geographical Society survey party works in the Sahara in the late 1930s.
Chebika is an oasis village in the Tozeur region of Tunisia.
Filmed at Chebika oasis, Tunisia — The village and oasis served as setting for the desert camp scenes. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
The Cave of Swimmers
Almásy discovers the ancient cave paintings, and the expedition documents them. Almásy and Katharine fall in love, and he hides notes for her in his book.
Set in Cave of Swimmers, Gilf Kebir — Almásy finds the ancient cave paintings, and the group documents them. Google Maps · Apple Maps
The Wadi Sura cave paintings in the Gilf Kebir plateau show swimming figures; the cave in the film is a set, not this rock shelter.
The Cairo hotel where the affair starts
Back from the desert, the group settles in Cairo. Almásy and Katharine begin an affair while her husband starts to notice.
Set in Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo — The expedition returns to Cairo, where Almásy and Katharine begin an affair.
Shepheard's Hotel is the Cairo hotel the film names; it was not filmed in Cairo.
Filmed at Pienza, Tuscany — Italian town near the monastery (scene not matched) Google Maps · Apple Maps
Filmed at Basilica of San Francesco, Arezzo — Tuscan chapel with Piero della Francesca frescoes Google Maps · Apple Maps
Filmed at Ripafratta fortress and Serchio bridge — Scene not identified in sources Google Maps · Apple Maps
Filmed at Trieste — Scene not identified in sources Google Maps · Apple Maps
Filmed at Forte dei Marmi beach — Scene not identified in sources Google Maps · Apple Maps
Filmed at Venice — Scene not identified in sources Google Maps · Apple Maps
Characters
- László Almásy — A Hungarian mapmaker, now a badly burned patient who cannot remember his name.
- Hana — A French-Canadian army nurse who stays behind in a bombed monastery to look after him.
- Katharine Clifton — The wife of an aerial surveyor in the Sahara expedition.
Questions answered on the map
- Where was the Cairo hotel of The English Patient really filmed?
- Where is the bombed-out monastery of The English Patient?