beni hammad fort also called al qal'a of beni hammad (in arabic :قلعة بني حماد) is a fortified palatine city in algeria. now in ruins, in the 11th century, it served as the first capital of the hammadid dynasty. it is in the hodna mountains northeast of m'sila, at an elevation of , and receives abundant water from the surrounding mountains. beni hammad fort is near the town of maadid (aka maadhid), about southeast of algiers, in the maghreb. in 1980, it was inscribed as a world heritage site by unesco, and described as "an authentic picture of a fortified muslim city".