The Mamluk fortress on Aqaba's corniche is the city's most prominent historic monument — a stone-walled rectangle with corner towers, built in its current form by the Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri around 1510 to guard the pilgrim route between Cairo and Mecca. The Ottomans took it over a few years later and held it until 1917, when it was captured by Arab forces under T.E. Lawrence and bombarded by the Royal Navy.
The interior has been restored and houses a small exhibition on the city's history; arches over the inner courtyard frame views back toward the sea. The Ottoman calligraphic inscription over the main gate, on a marble band, is original. Combined ticket with the Archaeological Museum next door; open mornings and evenings.