A fortification is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere.
The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built.
A concentric castle is a castle with two or more concentric curtain walls, such that the outer wall is lower than the inner and can be defended from it. The layout was square where the terrain permitted, or an irregular polygon where curtain walls of a spur castle followed the contours of a hill.
The Tower of David, also known as the Citadel, is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.
Bodrum Castle is a historical fortification located in southwest Turkey in the port city of Bodrum, built from 1402 onwards, by the Knights of St John as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium. A transnational effort, it has four towers known as the English, French, German, and Italian towers, bearing the names of the nations responsible for their construction. The chapel was built around 1407 and the first walls completed in 1437. The castle started reconstruction in the late 14th century, only to be taken over by the Islamic Ottoman Empire in 1523. The chapel was converted to a mosque, and a minaret was added. The castle remained under the empire for almost 400 years. After remaining empty following World War I, in the early 1960s, the castle became the home for the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. In 2016 it was inscribed in the UNESCO Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.
Didymoteicho is a town located on the eastern edge of the Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, Turkey, about 20 km north of Soufli and about 90 km north of Alexandroupoli. The municipality of Didymóteicho has a land area of 565.4 km² and a population of 16,060 inhabitants.
The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th century until the construction of Abdeen Palace in the 19th century. Its location on a promontory of the Mokattam hills near the center of Cairo commands a strategic position overlooking the city and dominating its skyline. When it was constructed it was among the most impressive and ambitious military fortification projects of its time. It is now a preserved historic site, including mosques and museums.
Turhal is a city in Tokat Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Turhal District. Its population is 62,030 (2022). It is 48 km to the west of Tokat. Turhal is situated on a fertile plain fragmented by the Yeşil Irmak river. It has an elevation of approximately 530 m. The city is best known for its sugar beet processing plant established in 1934 as an important enterprise of the young Turkish Republic.
The Alcazaba is a palatial fortification in Málaga, Spain, built during the period of Muslim-ruled Al-Andalus. The current complex was begun in the 11th century and was modified or rebuilt multiple times up to the 14th century. It is one of the best-preserved alcazabas in Spain. The Alcazaba is also connected by a walled corridor to the higher Castle of Gibralfaro, and adjacent to the entrance of the Alcazaba are remnants of a Roman theatre dating to the 1st century AD.
The Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE. Occupied by many civilizations over time – including the Greeks, Armenians, Romans, Byzantines, Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans – the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. An extensive conservation work took place in the 2000s CE by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in collaboration with Aleppo Archeological Society. Dominating the city, the Citadel is part of the Ancient City of Aleppo, an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986 CE. During the 2010s, the Citadel received significant damage during the lengthy Battle of Aleppo. It was reopened to the public in early 2018 CE with repairs to damaged parts underway, though some of the damage will be purposefully preserved as part of the history of the citadel. The citadel was damaged by the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake.
Qalat or kalata (قلعه) in Persian, and qal'a(-t) or qil'a(-t) in Arabic, means 'fortress', 'fortification', 'castle', or simply 'fortified place'. The common English plural is "qalats".
The Heptapyrgion, modern Eptapyrgio, also popularly known by its Ottoman Turkish name Yedi Kule, is a Byzantine and Ottoman-era fortress situated on the north-eastern corner of the Acropolis of Thessaloniki in Greece. Despite its name, which in both languages means "Fortress of Seven Towers", it features ten, and was probably named after the Yedikule Fortress in Constantinople. It served as the major redoubt of the city's acropolis, as well as the seat of its garrison commander in Ottoman times, until the late 19th century. It was then converted to a prison, which remained open until 1989. References to the infamous Yedi Kule prison abound in the Greek rebetika songs. Restoration and archaeological work began in the 1970s and continues to this day.
The Walls of Trabzon are a series of defensive walls surrounding the old town of the city of Trabzon, northeastern Turkey. The fortifications are sometimes called the Trabzon Castle. However, they did not function as a castle, rather as city walls. Constructed on foundations dating back to the Roman era with cut stones from former structures at site, the walls stretch from the hill on the backside of the old town to the Black Sea shore. The walls further divided the city into three parts; the Upper Town or "fortress", the Middle Town and the Lower Town. The upper and middle towns are flanked by steep ravines cut by the Zagnos (Iskeleboz) and Tabakhane (Kuzgun) streams to the west and east respectively, while the lower town extends to the west of Zagnos.
The Castle of Kars is a former fortification located in Kars, Turkey. It is also known under the name Iç Kale.
The Ioannina Castle is the fortified old town of the city of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. The present fortification dates largely to the reconstruction under Ali Pasha in the late Ottoman period, but incorporates also pre-existing Byzantine elements.
The Fortifications of Diyarbakır are a set of fortifications enclosing the historical district of Sur in Diyarbakır, Turkey. They consist of an inner fortress, the citadel, and an outer ring of city walls.
The Trikala Castle is the Byzantine-era citadel of the city of Trikala in western Thessaly, Greece.
Kozan Castle is a castle in Kozan, Adana Province, Turkey.
Kale-i Sultaniye or Çimenlik Castle is a castle which was built on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles in Turkey in 1452. Today, it is used as a museum.
The Harran Castle or Harran Citadel is a castle ruin in Harran, Turkey. Most of the present structure dates to the Ayyubid Sultanate c. 1200 but the castle is substantially older. Its exact founding date is unknown but it appears to have been built at some point during the time Harran was under Byzantine rule and was originally a palace.
