Fortress of Essaouira - one of the main attractions of the Moroccan popular resort city of Essaouira, which lies on the Atlantic coast. The peculiar charm of the city makes this village perhaps the most beautiful places in Morocco.

The first settlers who lived in this area were the Phoenicians (VII v. BC). In the XV century. the city settled the Portuguese who built here their stronghold and called it Mogador. The building has played an important military and commercial role, hence the Portuguese traded with all the countries of the African continent. This really rebuilt the city in the middle of the XVIII century. Sultan Mohammed II from the Alawite dynasty, who decided to make it a naval base. On his orders, the French architect Théodore Cornu, previously created several castles in Languedoc, has developed a plan of the city, on which construction was carried out and the settlements.

Those walls, which can be seen today, was built in 1756. At the same time the construction was called by the name of the settlement - Essaouira. In 1912, French fort was renamed again in Mogador, and in 1956 after independence, she again returned to the old name of Essaouira.

Essaouira fortress surrounded by thick walls with beveled teeth, the main task of which is to protect the local population from the raids of the pirates from the sea. Externally, the walls are like classical European fortifications, and the inner part of them was made in the style of traditional Muslim architecture. Within the walls of the citadel there are several fortified gates. The main gate leads to the Medina of Essaouira.

Fortifications consists of two fortifications (ramparts) - one of which is in the south and the other in the north. Especially interesting to look north bastion, which houses a 200-meter area with old Spanish cannon, of which once fired at the seaside. Hence it can be seen waves breaking on the rocks and the famous Purple Islands. It was here that the famous director Orson Welles in 1949 for the film "Othello".