Fort Qaitbey is situated on the most visible location of Alexandria city. Located
on the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World i.e. the legendary
Lighthouse of Alexandria, Fort Qaitbey is one of the gems of the Alexandria.
Qaitbey, a Mumluk ruler, who ruled Egypt from 1468 to 1496, builds Fort of
Qaitbey. It was believed that some of the construction material of Fort of Qaitbey
came from the ruined structure mainly the huge red granite pillars. Fort Qaitbey
consists of three main parts: the huge walls around the entire fort complex,
an interior wall and the tower built on the site of lighthouse.
The first attraction of the fortress, the huge walls covered about two acres
of land. However the eastern wall of the fort has no protective tower but the
wall of the western side consists of three guard towers. The middle of the southern
wall contains a section, which leads to the main entrance of the fort. The northern
wall of the fortress is facing towards the sea and has square shaped windows
for canons. On the top there was a balcony for archers.
Within the main wall there is a lower secondary wall primarily known as inner
walls of Fort Qaitbey. The inner walls of the fortress contain rooms used for
garrisoning soldiers. The main central tower of the fort has a large garden
in its front. For entering the central tower, there are a series of tunnels
known as coastal passages that lead into various sections of the fort complex.
There are three doorways to reach coastal passages. Two of them are in the right
and left side of the garden while the third door leads to the stables, in the
western part of the fort.
The central tower of the fort is a square shaped structure located in the northeastern
side of the fortress. This central tower measures 17 meters in height and thirty
meters each side. The ground floor of the central tower contains a mosque that
is considered as the oldest mosque of Alexandria. The left side of the mosque
contains an opening that leads to the coastal passages. Sultan's throne is on
the third floor of the tower along with a large massive rectangular shaped balcony.
Fort of Qaitbey was ruined twice first by the French troops under the leadership
of Napoleon and later by the British troops and was also restored three times
first in 1940s, second in 1982 and last in 2000.
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