Tripoli's castle is built into the southeast corner of the city wall,overlooking the harbor.
The existing plan of the main complex is Ottoman, with a mosque, harem and many courtyards, but the castle isundoubtedly built on the foundations of earlier fortresses. Theintricate network of paths within the castle reflects the style ofwinding arcaded streets seen in the old city.
The fortress has beenadded to by each successive generation of Tripoli's rulers, and thuscontains a mix of architecture and decoration.
The main gateway datesfrom the 16th century, and shows the influence of the Spanish rulersat the time.
No longer used for defensive purposes, the castle wasrenovated and opened in 1988 as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Museum,housing cultural artifacts from all periods in Libya's history.
1 comment:
I'm very new in Tripoli, and one of the very first things I saw here was the Castle "Saraya".
I was really surprised to find such an authentic piece of history in good condition. I still haven't got the chance to see it from the inside though, I will someday enshallah.
Nice blog by the way ;)
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