Tarout Castle

Tarout castle

قلعة تاروت
The north part of the castle, September 2016
Location	Tarout Island, Saudi Arabia
History
Founded	16th century AD
Site notes
Condition	Partly destroyed

Fort Tarout or Tarout Castle (Arabic: قلعة تاروت‎‎) is a historic castle located on Tarout Island, Qatif, eastern Saudi Arabia. The base of the castle goes back to 5000 BC. The castle was built on the base of an old Phoenician temple, that was dedicated to Astarte, in the 16th century between 1515 and 1520 AD and it is surrounded by a wide wall constructed with sea mud, gypsum, and fourosh rocks. The fort has a total area of roughly 600 square metres (6,500 sq ft).^[1]

The fort is located on a hill in the centre of Tarout Island; the hill is the highest feature on the island. There used to be a spring beside the castle called "Ayyin Aloudda" (the old spring) which was the main source of water for the castle.

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