Fort Al-Ghwayzi

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Fort Al-Ghwayzi" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Fort Al-Ghwayzi حِصْن ٱلْغوَيْزِي
Mukalla, Hadhramaut Governorate, Yemen
The fort in 2021
Coordinates	14°33′30″N 49°08′11″E / 14.55838°N 49.13646°E / 14.55838; 49.13646
Type	rock castle
Site information
Condition	Intact, in danger due to negligence
Site history
Built	1716[1]
Materials	stones, bricks, palm trunks, plasters

Fort Al-Ghwayzi (

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 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 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 chalets.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

• 
  Overview of Al-Ghwayzi Fort at the base of the Hadhramaut Mountains
• 
• 
  In the 1960s
• 
• 
  The fort in the 1940s

References