Gallery
Description
Property Name: Asfan Fortress
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2020
Country (State party): Saudi Arabia
Province: Makkah
Town: Asfan
Geographic coordinates: 21°54’58.81″ N 39°20’24.00″ E
Historic Period: 18h century
Year of Construction: Unknown
Style: Ottoman
Original Use: Fortress
Current Use: Museum
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Another Ottoman fortress located on top of a hill in a privileged location near the many roads that pass through Isfan. The castle was mainly to protect the caravan routes nearby. The castle is built in the form of a square with four towers on the corners and two additional towers on each of the four walls. Some of the walls and towers are still in relatively good condition, but it appears that part of the hill on which the castle stands has been removed by construction work on the adjacent road, as the castle is now on the edge of the hill. The experience of going up to the castle via the road network is not as valuable as it enjoyed in the Ottoman era.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
State of Preservation
Well preserved
References
Commission of Tourism and Heritage