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The Historical Fort In El Quseir
5:00 AM in General Category Index by admin
If, perhaps you head along the coast road south from Hurghada and travel for roughly an hour or so, you will come to the town of El Quseir. At the centre of the town which is relatively untouched by Egypt’s flourishing tourist trade, is the Fort which goes back to 1571. The Fort was initially built by Sultan Selim I during a time the instant Quseir was without doubt one of the most important ports in The Red Sea. Along with being an important link in trade routes, Quseir was furthermore the departure point for Hajj pilgrims on their path to Mecca.
At the end of the 18th century, the French forces under the command of Napoleon took power over the fort and they held the fort until finally the British forced them to abandon it in 1801. It was the kick off of a series of events that saw the British defeat Napoleon’s forces in The Red Sea later in the year.
The British very quickly moved on and the subsequent years saw the Fort at El Quseir used as a base by Muhammad Ali Pasha in his wars against Arabia. In 1869, the Suez Canal started to operate linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. As a result, the strategic value of the fort was significantly reduced. It’s working life came to an finish in 1975 after a great many years service as a base of the Egyptian Coast Guard.
At the moment, the Fort at El Quseir is a minor tourist attraction for those taking a Red Sea holiday. The town itself doesn’t get many travellers and the two hotels at El Quseir are self contained resorts away from the centre. There is a modest entrance fee to get into the Fort which contains a lot of exhibits telling it’s history along with a handful of items from the era as Italian investment came to Quseir from a phosphate company.
