Qishlah


Qishlah or Al-Qishlah is a Palace in the center of Ha'il city, Saudi Arabia. Built in the 1940s during the principality of prince Abdulaziz bin Musaad Al Saud of Ha'il province. It is a two-floor mud palace, 142.8x141.2 meters, its walls are 8.5m high, and it has eight watch-towers along with the walls with two main gates, east and west.
Qishlah comes from the Turkish word for fort or barracks. The purpose of building it was to make it the central location for the army troops arriving there. Then it was a prison until the end of the principality of bin Musa'ad, when it was re-purposed as a historical building by the government.