The Citadel of Damascus is an Ayyubid-era fortified palace. The Turkman warlord Atsiz bin Uvak began the citadel in 1076, and the Seljuq ruler Tutush I finished it. Al-Adil built the current structure from 1203 to 1216, though the infobox gives 1174 to 1260. The article names no architect.
A rectangular curtain wall encloses 750 by 490 feet (230 by 150 m), larger than the Seljuq citadel of 690 by 430 feet (210 by 130 m). Of 14 original towers, 12 remain, ten of them preserved at 49 to 82 feet (15 to 25 m) high. The south wall is 38 feet (11.5 m) high. The builders used carbonate rock and basalt quarried near Damascus, and three gates open on the north, east and west.
Mongols dismantled much of it in 1260, and Timur besieged the city in 1401. It served as a prison and barracks until 1986, and restoration began that year.
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