Qaitbay Castle is located at the end of Pharos Island in the far west of Alexandria. It was built in the place of the old Alexandria Lighthouse, which was demolished in the year 702 AH as a result of the devastating earthquake that occurred during the reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun. Sultan Al-Ashraf Abu Al-Nasr Qaitbay began building this castle in the year 882 AH and finished. It was built in the year 884 AH.
The reason for his interest in Alexandria was the many direct threats to Egypt from the Ottoman Empire, which threatened the entire Arab region. The Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri took an interest in the castle, increasing its importance and shipping it with weapons.
Description of the castle.
This castle takes the form of a square with an area of 150 m x 130 m and is surrounded by the sea on three sides. This castle contains walls and the main tower on the northwestern side. The walls are divided into an internal wall and an external wall. The internal wall includes soldier barracks and weapons stores, while the external wall The castle includes defensive towers on the four sides that rise to the level of the wall, with the exception of the eastern wall, which includes defensive openings for soldiers.
The main tower in the inner courtyard takes the form of a large, square castle with a side length of 30 meters and a height of 17 metres. The castle consists of three square floors, and in the four corners of the tower there are semi-circular towers that end at the top with prominent balconies. These towers are higher than the main tower and include openings for throwing arrows. On two levels, the first floor is occupied by the Citadel Mosque, which consists of a courtyard, four iwans, and defensive corridors that allow soldiers to pass easily during operations to defend the Citadel. This mosque had a minaret, but it collapsed recently.
As for the second floor, it contains corridors, halls, and internal rooms, and the third floor includes a large room (the seat of Sultan Qaytbay) in which he sits to watch the ships a day’s walk from Alexandria, covered by a cross vault. There is also on this floor an oven for preparing whole wheat bread, as well as a mill for grinding grains for the resident soldiers. In the castle. Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri renovated the castle and increased its garrison. This castle was neglected during the period of the Ottoman Caliphate of Egypt.
This castle was established by Sultan King Al-Ashraf Abu Al-Nasr Qaytbay Al-Mahmoudi in the year 882 AH / 1477 AD in the place of the ancient lighthouse of Alexandria at the eastern end of Pharos Island at the end of the Mamluk state. It is an independent building 150 meters long or less, and consists of three floors, the first floor having a square shape. The second is octagonal, and the third is circular. The top of the lighthouse is covered by a dome, and above it is a statue of the god Poseidon, the god of the seas and oceans, with the famous three-pronged fork among the Greeks. It was decorated with marble statues. The lighthouse in general was built with very huge stones, and the way it was lit was by means of a pyramidal or polygonal block of bronze that was polished to perfection. It has a very smooth surface that works like a hanging mirror, and underneath it is a burning stove. It reflects the light emanating from the fire over a length of about 20 kilometers in the water to guide ships coming to Alexandria. The thickness of its walls is 4.5 meters.
The lighthouse was destroyed as a result of an earthquake in the year 702 AH during the reign of King Al-Nasser Muhammad bin Qalawun, who ordered its restoration. However, it was later demolished after several years until all its parts were destroyed in the year 777 AH / 1375 AD.
When Sultan Qaytbay visited the city of Alexandria in the year 882 AH / 1477 AD, he went to the site of the old lighthouse and ordered the building of a tower on its old foundation, which was later known as Qaytbay Citadel or Tabia. The construction was completed two years after the date of construction, and historical sources indicate that the castle had It was built with some of the ancient lost lighthouse stones, and not just in the same place. The lighthouse itself was built with some of the ruins of ancient Pharaonic cities such as Memphis and Thebes.
Because Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria is considered one of the most important castles on the Mediterranean coast, the sultans and rulers of Egypt have paid attention to it throughout historical times.
In the Mamluk era, we find that Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri paid great attention to this castle and increased the strength of its garrison and loaded it with weapons and equipment. When the Ottomans conquered Egypt, they used this castle as a place for their garrison and took care to preserve it and placed in it groups of infantry soldiers, cavalry, artillery and various garrisons to defend it and then defend the gate of Egypt. On the northern coast.
When the Ottoman Empire weakened, the castle began to lose its strategic and defensive importance as a result of the weakness of its garrison. Then the French campaign against Egypt led by Napoleon Bonaparte was able to seize it and the city of Alexandria in the year 1798 AD, which led to its seizure and from there they seized control of the rest of Egypt. When Muhammad Ali Pasha took over the rule of Egypt He worked to fortify Egypt, especially its northern coast. He renovated the castle’s walls and added some works to it to suit the defensive development of the nineteenth century AD, which was represented by strengthening its walls, renovating its buildings, and supplying it with coastal cannons, in addition to building many columns and forts that spread along the northern coast of Egypt.
When Ahmed Orabi’s revolution took place in 1882 AD, one of its results was the attack on the city of Alexandria on July 11, 1882 AD, and then the English occupation of Egypt. Qaitbay Castle was vandalized and cracks were caused in it. The castle remained in this state until the Committee for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities was established in 1904 AD. He made many repairs to it and carried out a project to make renovations to it based on the studies carried out by the scholars of the French campaign and published in the book Description of Egypt, and also carried out by the traveler Cassius in his book in the year 1799 AD.
General architectural layout of the castle.
Qaitbay Citadel was built on an area of 17,550 square meters. On this area, the castle’s external walls and military fortifications were built. It is a group of walls built to increase the fortification of the citadel. These walls are two large walls of huge stones that surround the citadel from the outside and inside, prepared to protect the citadel. The first wall is the outer wall and surrounds the castle on all four sides, the eastern side of this wall