HEAVY ARAD

This fort, typical of Arab military architecture, protected the channel between Manama and Muharraq. Built in the 15th century, it was the rampart of Bahrain against pirates. Local materials of palm wood, coral blocks and mud mortar were used during the renovation in the 1980s. With its four towers, located at each corner of the fort, its machicolations and its moat, the fort was not impregnable, but it remained one of the central pieces of the Bahraini defensive system.