Tabuk Castle, Military castle in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Tabuk Castle is a two-storey stone fortress of 1559 in Tabuk, built of rectangular tan blocks with a crenellated parapet and a tall arched gateway holding a dark door with an arched window above. The ground floor has an open courtyard with eight rooms on its north and south sides, a mosque and a well; stairs lead to an upper level with an open mosque and rooms, and to two mud-brick towers used for guard duty and firing cannon to greet arriving pilgrims.

The fortress was built in 1559 during Ottoman rule to protect water stations and control movement along the pilgrimage route to Medina. It played a vital role in securing trade routes that passed through the region during that period.

The castle was one of the stations on the Syrian Hajj route linking the Levant with Medina. Its lower mosque and open upper mosque served pilgrims travelling through Tabuk. Decorative ceramic tiles added under Mehmed IV remain visible at the entrance.

The castle is now run by the Ministry of Tourism and is open to the public as a museum. Inside, a stairway links the ground floor, with its open courtyard, rooms, mosque and well, to the upper level and the rooftop mosque. Look for the stone waterspout on the west side of the courtyard and the arrow slits facing every direction.

The two lower towers were built of mud brick and served as guard posts where cannons were fired to greet arriving pilgrim caravans. A stone waterspout on the west side of the courtyard drained rainwater from the upper floor, and arrow slits face every direction.