Historic fortresses are providing us with an immediate point of contact with old ages, are giving us different images because of different times and places, they are like materialistic messages from past generations to the present with a contemporary protect thought in order to be a motivation for present creative works, which were built to take military, political, social and economic role, to serve a whole variety of purposes this is what makes fortresses as specific architectural units, so the research concentrated on historic fortresses in Iraq and studied its architectural landmarks and design criteria, therefore the problem is appointed by little studies related to fortresses, and how should be developed, the aims of research are: studying of fortresses, their types besides security defensive concepts, finding out characteristic samples of local experiences in dealing with the fortified fortresses. This fact gave the author motivation to lay ground for a practical method and updated study to give Life to the urban and architectural existences in Kirkuk fortress.