Located near the Azraq oasis on the modern highway to Iraq, Qasr al-Azraq is a large fortress built out of basalt stone. The present form of the castle probably dates back to the 13th century CE., but it is believed that a fortress has existed in this location since the Romans built one during the Diocletian era.
The walls of the rooms surrounding the court are medieval, although the black stones are ancient. In the eighth century, the Umayyad crown prince Walid II used the ancient fort as a residence when he went hunting near the lake that once existed nearby, and he may have built the mosque in the center of the court. An Ayyubid inscription in the southern gate of the fort is dated to 1237 CE (634 AH), which is believed to be when the fortress took on its final form.
It continued to be used, first by the Ottomans who stationed a garrison there, and later by T.E. Lawrence during the winter of 1917. The latest military users of the fort were the Druze in the 1930s.
