If you follow the coast road south from Hurghada and travel for close to sixty minutes, you will found yourself in the town of El Quseir. At the heart of the town which continues to be relatively unblemished by Egypt’s booming tourist trade, is the Fort which dates back to the 1500s. It was originally constructed by Sultan Selim I at a time after Quseir was certainly one of the most essential ports in Egypt. As well as being an important part in trade routes, Quseir was furthermore the departure point for Hajj pilgrims on their road to Mecca.
At the end of the 18th century, the French forces under the command of Napoleon took charge of the fort and they held the fort until eventually the British forced them to give it up two years later. It was the begin the process of of a series of events that saw the British beat Napoleon’s army in The Red Sea later that 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 versus Arabia. In 1869, the Suez Canal began to operate linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, the strategic benefits of the fort was significantly reduced. It is working life came to an stop in 1975 following several years operation as a base of the Egyptian Coast Guard.
At the moment, the Fort at El Quseir is a small but successful tourist attraction for people taking a Red Sea holiday. The town itself does not get the majority of holidaymakers and the few hotels at El Quseir are self contained resorts away from the centre. There is a small entrance fee to get into the Fort which possesses many different exhibits documenting it is heritage as well as a selection of items from the era after Italian investment came to Quseir from a phosphate company.