Castle of the Sorcerers, or Al-Urafa Castle: A Historic Fortress in Saudi Arabia

Site at a Glance

Rating

★4.1

Popularity

Low

Country

Saudi Arabia

Primary era

Modern

Eras represented

Early Modern, Modern

Civilizations

Unclassified

Site type

Military

Remains

Castle

History

Castle of the Sorcerers, also known as Al-Urafa Castle, is a historic fortress in Saudi Arabia on the northwestern slope of Mount al-Urf near Taif. Its construction date is uncertain, but the fortress is broadly placed in the eighteenth or nineteenth century and is probably from the nineteenth century. It is described as having been built in the Abbasid architectural style, associated with the Abbasid caliphate that ruled much of the Islamic world from the eighth to the thirteenth century.

Origins and names

The fortress stands at al-Urafa, east of Al-Hawiyah Airport in the northern part of Taif. Its elevated position gave rise to the name Al-Urafa Castle. The site is also known as Sha’iq Castle, al-Sharif Castle, and Mount al-Urf Castle.

The dating of the building remains unsettled. It is commonly assigned to the eighteenth or nineteenth century, with a probable construction date in the late thirteenth Hijri century, corresponding to the nineteenth century. The Encyclopedia of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia instead places its construction in the twelfth Hijri century.

Remains

Layout and construction

The fortress has a rectangular plan and follows an Arab architectural style. Stone and mud form its principal building materials. It rises through three stories, with rooms offering large floor areas. The second and third stories were constructed from mud to reduce the weight carried by the foundations of the main first story.

Defensive and water features

Observation towers

Two observation towers occupy opposite corners of the fortress, one at the northwestern corner and the other at the southeastern corner. Their upper edges are decorated with upright triangular forms made from brilliant white quartz, a hard mineral that can appear as very white, translucent stone.

Water wells

Several wells were dug inside the fortress to provide its inhabitants with fresh water. Their location within the enclosure formed part of the castle’s internal provision for life within the fortified building.

Inscriptions and representations

Ancient inscriptions appear within the castle in Thamudic and Madinan scripts. Thamudic refers to ancient Arabian inscriptions associated with the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula, while Madinan was an early Arabic writing style. The fortress also contains representations of animals and human figures.