Kelaat Arbaa Taourirt: A Spanish Protectorate Castle in Morocco
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Morocco
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Spanish
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Kelaat Arbaa Taourirt is a Spanish-built castle in Morocco, constructed in 1941 during the Spanish Protectorate, the period when Spain administered zones of Morocco before Moroccan independence in 1956. Designed by the Spanish colonel and engineer Emilio Blanco Izaga, it occupied a strategic position about 40 kilometres south of Alhucemas, near the Nekor River and roughly 400 metres above sea level.
A Strategic Administrative Center
The castle stood above the valley leading toward the Gulf of Nekor on the Mediterranean coast. From this elevated position, it commanded views toward distant points on both sides of the valley. The complex had earlier served as a feudal fortress before becoming a multipurpose administrative center under Spanish rule.
During the Protectorate, the castle contained administrative offices, a prison, a courthouse, and a clinic. Grain stores and animal stables supported its wartime functions. The name Fousina derives from a corruption of the Spanish word oficina, meaning “office,” and reflects the administrative work carried out inside the fortress. Kelaat Arbaa Taourirt is also known as the Red Fort.
Survival and Restoration
The castle survived the effects of time, looting, and the 2004 earthquake. Its exterior generally retained its original appearance, although the complex visibly deteriorated. A restoration project carried out between 2019 and 2022 protected the walls and towers from the danger of collapse and addressed the principal elements of the fortress.
Remains
The complex covers approximately 900 square metres and contains 99 rooms. Its arrangement combines enclosing walls and towers with a network of doors, windows, stairs, passageways, roofs, and arches. The design imitates the collective grain-storage buildings of southern Morocco, fortified communal structures used to protect harvested grain and other supplies, while also drawing on the castles and palaces of the Atlas Mountains.
Fortress Construction
The surviving architectural scheme presents Kelaat Arbaa Taourirt as both a defensive enclosure and a large institutional compound. Walls and towers define the fortified character, while the numerous rooms and internal passages accommodated its administrative and practical uses. Doors, windows, stairs, roofs, and arches form the principal elements of the complex’s built fabric.
Protected Architectural Fabric
The restoration safeguarded the fortress’s doors, windows, stairs, passageways, walls, roofs, and arches. These interventions preserved the physical features through which the castle’s fortified Moroccan-inspired design and its former multipurpose character can be understood.
