Fort Julien (or, in some sources, ''Fort Rashid'') (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: طابية رشيد) is a fort located on the left or west bank of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

about north-west of Rashid (

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...

) on the north coast of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. It was originally built by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and occupied by the French during

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's campaign in Egypt and Syria between 1798 and 1801. The fort became famous as the place where the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle te ...

was found in 1799.

Description and history

The fort is a low, squat rectangular structure with a central blockhouse that overlooks the final few kilometres of the Nile before it joins the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. It was built around 1470 by the

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

Sultan Qait Bey, who also built the eponymous

Citadel of Qaitbay The Citadel of Qaitbay (or the Fort of Qaitbay; ar, قلعة قايتباي) is a 15th-century defensive fortress located on the Mediterranean sea coast, in Alexandria, Egypt. It was built from 1477 to 1479 AD (882–884 AH) by Sultan Al-Ash ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. In 1516, Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri reinforced it with a defensive wall. The fort subsequently fell into disrepair. The fort was built in part from stone looted from nearby ancient Egyptian sites; when

Vivant Denon Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (4 January 1747 – 27 April 1825) was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. Denon was a diplomat for France under Louis XV and Louis XVI. He was appointed as the first Director of the Louvre ...

visited it in 1799, he noted that it was "constructed of parts of old buildings; and that several of the stones of the

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s were of the fine free-stone of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

, and still covered with

hieroglyphics Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

Discovery of the Rosetta Stone

The French took possession of the dilapidated fort on 19 July 1799, only a few days before the Battle of Abukir, and embarked on a hasty rebuilding. It was subsequently reconstructed in a more thoroughgoing fashion and was renamed Fort Julien after

Thomas Prosper Jullien Thomas Prosper Jullien (21 December 1773, Lapalud - 1798, Egypt) was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. Aide de camp to Bonaparte, he rose to the rank of captain and was brother of the famous general Louis Joseph Victor Julli ...

. One of Napoleon's aides-de-camp, Lieutenant

Pierre-François Bouchard Pierre-François Bouchard (29 April 1771, Orgelet – 5 August 1822, Givet) was an officer in the French Army of engineers. He is most famous for discovering the Rosetta Stone, an important archaeological find that allowed Ancient Egyptian writ ...

, uncovered the famous

at the fort while repairing its defences. Qait Bey's engineers had apparently brought it to the site from elsewhere, possibly a temple at nearby

Sais Sais ( grc, Σάϊς, cop, Ⲥⲁⲓ) was an ancient Egyptian city in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile,Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. "Saïs." '' Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. 9th ed. Springfiel ...

, to use as fill.Saunders, Nicholas J. ''Alexander's Tomb: The Two Thousand Year Obsession to Find the Lost Conqueror'', p. 134. Basic Books, 2007. Two years later, the fort was captured by a combined British and Turkish force after a short siege and bombardment.

Current condition

The fort was extensively restored by the Egyptian government in the 1980s and reopened in 1985 by President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

. It is now surrounded on three sides by the village of Izbat Burj Rashid and is open to the public. It is possible to reach it by taxi from Rashid.

References

{{Authority control Castles in Egypt

Julien Julien may refer to: People * Julien (given name) * Julien (surname) Music * Julien (opera), ''Julien'' (opera), a 1913 poème lyrique by Gustave Charpentier * Julien (album), ''Julien'' (album), by Dalida, 1973 * Julien (song), "Julien" (so ...

History museums in Egypt Mamluk architecture in Egypt Nile Delta Open-air museums in Egypt Ottoman fortifications