Fort Al-Ghwayzi (), or Al-Ghwaizi Fortress, is one of the old fortresses in Al-

Mukalla Mukalla, officially the Mukalla City District, is a seaport and the capital city district of Yemen's largest governorate, Hadhramaut Governorate, Hadhramaut. The city is in the South Arabia, southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of A ...

, the capital of

Hadhramaut Governorate Hadhramaut Governorate () is a governorate of Yemen. Lying within the large historical region of Hadhramaut, it is the country's largest governorate. The capital of Hadhramaut is the city of Mukalla. Other cities in Hadhramaut include the histori ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. It is considered an architectural masterpiece built on the foot of a rock designed to protect the city from

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

attacks.حصن الغويزي بمكلا حضرموت تحفة معمارية بديعة
/ref>حصن الغويزي بالمكلا
/ref>

History

The Fortress of Al-Ghwayzi is one of the important historic fortresses in Yemen. It dates back to 1716 when the

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

s of the Emirate of Al-Kassad ruled the

Hadhramaut Hadhramaut ( ; ) is a geographic region in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwah and Mahrah, Dhofar in southwestern Oman, and Sharurah in the Najran Province of Saudi A ...

region. The fort is located in the northeastern entrance of the city of Mukalla, a historic center for visitors surrounded by a public park. Historical sources indicate that the purpose of its establishment was to monitor the military raids, which targeted the city of Mukalla on the coast of the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

from the direction of the north, especially the raids launched by the Kathiri Sultanate occupied the city of present

Seiyun Seiyun (also transliterated as ''Saywun'', ''Sayoun'' or ''Say'un''; Hadhrami pronunciation: , Literary Arabic: ) is a city in the region and Governorate of Hadhramaut in Yemen. It is located in the middle of the Hadhramaut Valley, abo ...

, and the raids launched by the

Qu'aiti Sultanate Qu'aiti, '), officially the Qu'aiti State of Shihr and Mukalla ( or the Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla, ' was a sultanate in the Hadhramaut region of the South Arabia, southern Arabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. Its capital was Mukalla, ...

, which was stationed in the city of

Ash Shihr Al-Shihr (), also known as ash-Shir or simply Shihr, is a coastal town in Hadhramaut, eastern Yemen. Al-Shihr is a walled town located on a sandy beach. There is an anchorage but no docks; boats are used. The main export is fish oil. The town is d ...

. The city of Mukalla however was eventually taken over by Qu'aitis in 1881 and the city was designated as its capital, nonetheless the fort was kept used against the other waves of raids coming from the north of Wadi Daw'an led by the Mayor of the State

Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

Al-Amoudi.

Architecture

The fort consists of two floors. The first floor has several rooms, in which its outer walls have several circular windows facing all directions. The second floor is characterized by its wide windows. The roof of the fortress is surrounded by a barrier that reaches up to from the roof level. The building materials for the barrier were traditional stones. The rest of the fort was built with straw-battered bricks and a roof with palm trunks. Its external walls were recently painted with white

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

Preservation

Although many archaeologists have cautioned against negligence of the fortress, which turned into a birdhouse and facing serious damages, the General Authority of Antiquities are unable to make a serious move for preservation due to lack of budget to begin the restoration work. The Commission stated that if restored, it could be turned into an important tourist attraction that generates considerable income that can assist the improvement of the province, which needs substantial funding to improve its other tourist spots similarly subject to destruction. The other problems faced by Al-Ghwayzi Fortress today is the

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

buildings surrounding the building, as well as many modern houses, crawling towards the area adjacent to the fort and threatening its current location. The fever of tourism investments can destroy the fort under many pretexts as well, the most important of which is the location overlooking the city of Mukalla. There is a concern regarding the exploitation of its location in order to build hotels or tourist

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-su ...

Gallery

File:Kasr Alghwayzi.JPG, Overview of Al-Ghwayzi Fort at the base of the

Hadhramaut Mountains The Hadhramaut Mountains (), also known as the "Mahrat Mountains" (), are a mountain range in Yemen. They are contiguous with the Omani Dhofar Mountains to the northeast, and James Canton considered Aden in the southwest to be in the mountain ...

File:22 Mukkala (1).jpg, alt= File:Mukalla-gwayzee-1960s.jpg, In the 1960s File:1حصن الغويزي.jpg, alt= File:CO 1069-681-15.jpg, The fort in the 1940s

References

External links

{{Tourist attractions in Yemen, state=expanded Military installations established in 1716 Palaces in Yemen Ghwayzi