This is a list of castles in Saudi Arabia.
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah and commonly shortened to Makkah, is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015. Its estimated metro population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.
The Hejaz is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu and Taif. It is also known as the "Western Province" in Saudi Arabia. It is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the 'Asir Region. Its largest city is Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia, with Makkah and Madinah being the fourth and fifth largest cities respectively in the country. The Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and deportation. While no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence. According to the U.S. Department of State's 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom, there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' between 1913 and 2013.
The Eastern Province, also known as the Eastern Region, and officially the Emirate of the Eastern Province, is the easternmost of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest province by area and the third most populous after the Riyadh Province and the Mecca Province. In 2017, the population was 4,900,325. Of these, 3,140,362 were Saudi citizens and 1,759,963 were foreign nationals The province accounts for 15.05% of the entire population of Saudi Arabia and is named for its geographical location relative to the rest of the kingdom.
A kasbah, also spelled qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term alcazaba in Spanish, which derives from the same Arabic word. By extension, the term can also refer to a medina quarter, particularly in Algeria. In various languages, the Arabic word, or local words borrowed from the Arabic word, can also refer to a settlement, a fort, a watchtower, or a blockhouse.
The Ajyad Fortress was an Ottoman citadel which stood on a hill overlooking the Grand Mosque of Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia. Built in the late 18th century, it was demolished by the Saudi government in 2002 for commercial development of the Abraj Al Bait, sparking outcry from Turkey.
Al Ahsa is the largest governorate in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, named after the Al-Ahsa Oasis. The name Al-Ahsa is also given to the biggest city in the governorate, Hofuf. In Classical Arabic, 'Ahsa' means the sound of water underground. It has one of the largest oases in the world with world-renowned date palms and, according to one author, the oases of Al-Hasa and Al Ain are the most important in the Arabian Peninsula. The oasis is located about 60 mi (97 km) inland from the Persian Gulf. All urban areas are located in the traditional oasis of Al-Hasa. In addition to the oasis, the county also includes the giant Empty Quarter desert, making it the largest governorate in Saudi Arabia in terms of area. The Empty Quarter has the world's largest oil fields, and connects Saudi Arabia to Qatar, the UAE, and Oman. The Governorate's population is over 1,100,000. In the past, Al-Ahsa belonged to the historical region known as Bahrain, along with Qatif and the present-day Bahrain islands.
Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west. This region has its own municipality and includes the Qatif downtown, Safwa, Saihat, Tarout Island, and many other smaller cities and towns.
The Clock Towers is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project that aims to modernize the city in catering to its pilgrims. The central hotel tower, the Makkah Clock Royal Tower, is the fourth-tallest building and sixth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The clock tower contains the Clock Tower Museum that occupies the top four floors of the tower.
Al-Aḥsāʾ, also known as al-Ḥasāʾ (الْحَسَاء) or Hajar (هَجَر), is a traditional oasis historical region in eastern Saudi Arabia whose name is used by the Al-Ahsa Governorate, which makes up much of that country's Eastern Province. The oasis is located about 60 km (37 mi) inland from the coast of the Persian Gulf.
Tārūt Island is an island in the Persian Gulf belonging to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, connected by two causeways to Qatif. It is six kilometers from the coast, and is the longest island in the Persian Gulf after Qeshm Island, extending from Ra’s Tannurah in the north to Qatif in the west. The island has an area of 70 square kilometers, and a population (2010) of 77,757. It contains a number of towns and villages, including Tārūt itself, Deyrah, and Darīn.
Saudi Arabia is the second biggest tourist destination in the Middle East with over 16 million visiting in 2017. Although most tourism in Saudi Arabia still largely involves religious pilgrimages, there is growth in the leisure tourism sector. As the tourism sector has been largely boosted lately, the sector is expected to be the white oil for Saudi Arabia. This is proved as tourism sector is expected to generate $25 billion in 2019. Potential tourist areas include the Hijaz and Sarawat Mountains, Red Sea diving and a number of ancient ruins.
The Unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign in which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, city-states, emirates, and kingdoms of most of the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, or Al Saud. Unification started in 1902 and continued until 1932, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed under the leadership of King Abdulaziz, creating what is sometimes referred to as the Third Saudi State, to differentiate it from the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State and the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State, also House of Saud states.
The Qishla of Mecca was a fortress in Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia. Built in the eighteenth century as a military castle of the Ottoman army, the building was located in the Jarwal district on the western side of the city. In the early hours of 10 June 1916, the barracks was attacked by Sharifian forces and its soldiers besieged.
The destruction of heritage sites associated with early Islam is an ongoing phenomenon that has occurred mainly in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, particularly around the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina. The demolition has focused on mosques, burial sites, homes and historical locations associated with the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his companions, and many of the founding personalities of early Islamic history by the Saudi government. In Saudi Arabia, many of the demolitions have officially been part of the continued expansion of the Masjid al-Haram at Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina and their auxiliary service facilities in order to accommodate the ever-increasing number of Muslims performing the pilgrimage (hajj).
Mahmous an Arabic rice dish popular in Qatif and al-Hasa regions in Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain regions. Its primary ingredients are rice and onion. The dish may have originated before the rise of oil in Saudi Arabia when the people in Qatif were too poor to offer such dish with chicken, fish or meat so onion was used instead. And because of its black color and it can be prepared with relative ease with inexpensive ingredients, it is widely offered during Ashura to the audience to indicate a climate of grief during that period.
Fort Tarout or Tarout Castle is a historic castle located at the top of a hill in the center of Tarout Island, Qatif, eastern Saudi Arabia. The base at which the castle was built on goes back to 5000 BC. The castle itself was built on the base of an old Phoenician temple, that was dedicated to Astarte, during the Uyunid Emirate (1076–1253). Other researchers believe that it was built in the 16th century between 1515 and 1520 AD during Portuguese invasion of Persian gulf and was one of their defense point after they restored it on 29 March 1544.
Asfan Castle is a historical edifice in Asfan Village, 30 km North of both Jeddah and Mecca, Saudi Arabia, built in the eighteenth century -Exact date is disputed- as an outpost of the Ottoman army, Monitoring the road between Mecca and Medina.
Qasr Ibrahim is a historical castle and fort that is located in the north of Alqoat neighborhood, Hofuf, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Besides, it is called the dome Palace, AlQoat Palace or Ibrahim Castle. Ibrahim palace is the main architectural heritage from the Ottoman period of Al-Hofuf that was a Turkish military barracks. After that, the palace was taken and seized by King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in April 13, 1913.
The archaeology of Saudi Arabia includes the following archaeological sites:
