Saudi Arabia · 18th century
The Ajyad Fortress (Ottoman Turkish: قلعهٔ اجیاد, Turkish: Ecyad Kalesi; Arabic: قلعة أجياد) 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 protests from Turkey and other concerned Muslims of the world.
Text adapted from “Ajyad Fortress” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ajyad Fortress ranks #684 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 21 mapped in Saudi Arabia. Founded 1777, it is older than 13% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 685 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 8,782 times in the last 60 days, more than 93% of the atlas. See how Saudi Arabia compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →