Bahrain Fort

Bahrain Fort, also known as Al Bahrain Fort or Qal'at al-Bahrain, lies on the tell of Qal'at al-Bahrain in the village of Al Qalah in Bahrain. Up until just a couple of decades ago, it was known as Portugal Fort or Qal'at al-Portugal.

The tell has been inhabited by humans since 2300 BC and served as the capital of the ancient Dilmun civilization. An earlier fortification on the tell, the Tylos Fortress, preceded Bahrain Fort. Subsequent expansions and restorations of Bahrain Fort, of course, destroyed a large part of the tell.

Work on Bahrain Fort began sometime between the late 13th and early 14th centuries by the Arab-Persian dynasty of the Princes of Hormuz. The fame and wealth of the Hormuz realm reached as far as Europe, and in 1506, the Portuguese fleet conquered Hormuz, making it a tributary state of the Portuguese king and thus placing Bahrain under Portuguese rule.

A short time later, an anti-Portuguese rebellion on Hormuz drove out the Portuguese, and Badr al-Din, a nephew of the vizier of Hormuz, became the governor of Bahrain. Expecting a new invasion, he restored the fort and made it capable of resisting the Portuguese and Ottoman artillery of that period. He added a second enclosure and filled the spaces between the walls with earth to better protect against cannonball impacts, and widened the space on top of the walls to improve artillery movement. He also built a triangular lower courtyard with an entrance protected by a drawbridge.

In 1529, these additions and changes proved their worth when Badr al-Din and his 1500 men resisted a siege of the fort by a Portuguese force. Hormuz, however, fell back into Portuguese hands, and some years later, the governor of Bahrain was a Portuguese ally, Jalal al-Din Murad Mahmud Shah. He successfully defended Bahrain Fort against an Ottoman siege in 1559. This, however, prompted the Portuguese to restore the fort again. The architect Inofre de Carvalho designed the final layout of Bahrain Fort. He reinforced the enclosure of Badr al-Din, but, most importantly, 3 Genoan-type bastions were constructed at the northwest, southwest, and southeast corners. In 1561, the restoration was completed. In 1602, the Portuguese were expelled from Bahrain, and the fort came under Persian rule.

The town around the fort prospered until the entrance to the harbor started to silt up. This led to the decline of the town and fort, and, finally, around 1800, the site was abandoned. Eventually, the town became covered with drift sand from the sea, and the fort had become a ruin.

In the late 20th century, archaeological excavations were carried out, and the ruins of Bahrain Fort were consolidated.

Bahrain Fort is now freely accessible from morning until around 10:00 PM. This is a great fort with lots of areas to explore, and a visit is highly recommended! The site of Tylos Fortress is a nice bonus when you visit Bahrain Fort. The Bahrain Fort Museum, next to the beach, is also worth a visit.

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