العربية
الصينية
AL-TaifAbout :
The Shupra Castle Museum in Taif is one of the most prominent historical castles in Taif; it was constructed in 1323 Hijri/1904 AD by Shareef Ali bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Abdul Muin bin Awn Pasha.
The Castle was finished in 1906 AD after a two-year construction period, after which it was converted into a regional museum for the Taif governorate and opened to visitors in 1995 AD. Prior to the conversion, both King Abdulaziz Al Saud and King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud stayed there when they visited Taif.
The Castle
The Castle was built in the Shubra neighbourhood of Taif city, where it is characterised by a unique architectural style that combines Roman and Islamic characteristics, in addition to the ancient traditional architectural style characteristic of the Hijaz region at that time, and the Islamic architecture, which is manifested in windows, doors, dormers, pillars, as well as ceilings decorated with wood carvings.
Shupra Castle is an ancient historical architectural masterpiece, it is very beautiful in terms of the Interior and exterior design of the Castle, surrounded by trees, and therefore it is one of the famous monuments in the city of Taif.
The Castle consists of 4 floors in addition to the basement, and some accessories with an external garden, it includes about 150 rooms and it also contains several different entrances to be its main gate from the western side of the Castle, which was made of patterned wood.
The Castle also has 4 similar faces that contain pillars made of stone and Lime mortar, and there is also a large double staircase made of wood, with its floor made of Alabaster, it is called "Al-Salamlk" and it extends to the second floor.
The second floor contains two sections with large and small rooms where the walls are embossed with the gold-painted leaves of plants and the ceilings are beautifully and attractively decorated. Finally, the Castle wall is built in the Roman style in design and decoration
The Siege of Shupra Castle
The historic Castle of Shupra was seized, and this incident took place before the establishment of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the invasion of the Hijaz. The takeover was carried out by the commander of the Ikhwan Army, who was on his way to Taif, and also the sheikh of the tribe of Otaiba, Sultan bin Bajad, who at that time was the leader of the Najdi campaign, which succeeded in bringing the Hijaz to Saudi rule.
When the Ikhwan forces succeeded, the Sheikh of the Otaiba tribe, Sultan Ibn Hamid, stayed in it, and at the beginning of the Saudi rule, King Abdulaziz Al Saud lived there and managed the affairs of government through this Castle, he lived there during the summer, and after that, the Castle became an office for King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, and this was during his tenure as crown prince, and then it became an office for Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, who was then the Saudi defence minister in 1407 AH.
To be transformed again by King Fahd bin Abdulaziz into a museum of Islamic and Arab heritage, and be under the supervision of the Saudi Ministry of knowledge, and now under the supervision of the Ministry of Tourism of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It is now one of the most famous museums in the kingdom and you will have a great time visiting and watching its unique and wonderful architectural design
