Crusader Castle: Crak Des Chevaliers

UNESCO World Heritage Site

We visited the Crak Des Chevaliers (also spelled Krak Des Chevaliers) in 1993 while on a northern Syria tour. We were told it was one of the largest and best preserved of the Crusader castles. It was an amazing site to visit.

I marveled at what they had accomplished as I climbed to the top of the towers. Can you imagine being a Crusader, walking from somewhere in Europe to what is now Syria, and then deciding you needed to build a castle for defense? Where to build it? How big and how should it be organized? Where can you get the stones? What tools do you use to cut the stones? How do you move them to the site and then lift them into place? Who did the planning and who did the work?

My memory of the castle is that it was much larger and roomier than I expected it to be. There were beautiful arches holding up the pathways, large rooms for eating, small chapels, stables, etc. inside. It had to be roomy since it housed over 2000 people.

According to the UNESCO Heritage Site, Crak des Chevaliers represents one of the most significant examples illustrating the exchange of influences and documenting the evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the Byzantine, Crusader, and Islamic periods.

In Arabic, it is known as Hisn al-Akrad and was originally built for the Emir of Aleppo in 1031 CE. It was acquired and rebuilt by the Knights Hospitaller from 1142 to 1271. With further construction by the Mamluks in the late 13th century.

The limestone walls were made to be as smooth as possible to make scaling them more difficult. Narrow arrow-slit windows provided protection for the defenders when they aimed at attackers with their bows and arrows. The curved tower walls were an added protection since they were stable and provided better defense against catapults than square towers. (World History Encyclopedia)

There was talk of adding a cable car to carry people to the top level and other possible changes to accommodate tourists. Tourist development is on hold in the area at this time, however. The castle has some new battle scars. A BBC article from 2014 indicates that there has been damage due to bombardment when the government recaptured the castle from rebels in the area in the current civil war in Syria but most of the castle still stands.

Think about all the people past and present who have lived here and who have defended this hilltop. What an amazing history.

Ebla, Syria-An Ancient City — another story of our tour of Northern Syria

Speaking in a Roman Amphitheater in Jerash, Jordan — A graduation speech