Qaitbay Citadel Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria is located at the end of Pharos Island in the far west of Alexandria and was built in the place of the old lighthouse of Alexandria, which was destroyed in the year 702 AH following the devastating earthquake that occurred during the reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun.
Sultan Al-Ashraf Abu Al-Nasr Qaitbay began building this castle in the year 882 AH and finished building it in the year 884 AH. It is a separate building 60 meters long, 50 meters wide and 4.5 meters thick.
When Sultan Qaytbay visited the city of Alexandria in the year 882 AH / 1477AD, he went to the ancient site of Al-Manar and instructed that he build a tower on its old foundation, known later as the Qalbiyat or Tabiah Qaytbay. The construction was completed two years after the date of construction.
The reason for the interest of Sultan Abu Al-Nasr was Qaitbay in Alexandria due to the many direct threats to Egypt by the Ottoman Empire, which threatened the entire Arab region, and the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghouri took care of the castle and increased its importance and shipped it with weapons.
The Qait Bey Citadel was built on an area of approximately 17550 square meters. The outer walls of the fortress and its military enclosures were built on this area. It is a group of fences which are to increase the fortification of the castle. These walls are two large walls of huge stones that surround the castle from the outside and inside prepared for the protection of the castle, the first wall is the outer wall and surrounds the castle from the four sides, the eastern side of this wall overlooks the sea and its width is two meters those eight meters and does not include any towers, either The western side is a huge wall thicker than the rest of the castle walls with three round towers intersected by this oldest remaining part, while the southern side you can reach the eastern port and three round towers with a door in the middle, while the northern side overlooking the sea directly and is divided into priest lower part
It is a large roofed corridor built directly over the rock, with several rooms. As for the upper part, it is a corridor with narrow openings overlooking the sea. As for the inner walls, they are made of stone and surround the main tower on all sides except the northern side. This wall is permeated inside. A group of adjacent rooms prepared as barracks for the soldiers, which are free of any openings except for the door openings and sliding doors, which are designated to be ventilation holes on one side and defence holes on the other hand.
The main tower of the castle, which is located in the northwestern part of the castle area, and the main tower of the castle is a three-storey building with a square layout that exits from each of its four corners a circular tower rising from the surface of the main tower. The tower was built with solid limestone.
