Crusader castle in Syria. UNESCO World Heritage: Krak Fortress - Chevalier.Syria

Krak des Chevaliers or Krak de l'Hospital (Arabic قلعة الحصن, French Krak des Chevaliers, French Krak de l'Hospital) is a Hospitaller fortress located in Syria east of Tripoli in Lebanon on the top of a cliff 650 meters high, not far from road leading from Antioch to Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea.The nearest major Syrian city - Homs - is located 65 km east of the castle.

One of the best preserved Hospitaller fortresses in the world. In 2006, together with the Saladin citadel (30 km east of Latakia), the castle was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

From Arab chronicles it is known that in 1031 the fortress was occupied by the Kurdish garrison of the emir of Aleppo. In those days, the fortress was called Khysn al-Akrad (“Castle of the Kurds”). Based on the consonance, the Franks called the fortress Krat (French Le Krat), and then, due to its similarity with the Arabic term “karak” (fortress), they began to call it Krak (French Le Krak).

In 1099, during the First Crusade, it was captured by Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, but the crusaders soon abandoned the fortress to continue their march to Jerusalem.

In 1110 the fortress was reoccupied by Tancred, prince of Galilee, and in 1142 Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, gave Krak des Chevaliers to the Order of the Hospitallers to guard the lines against possible raids by Zangi ibn Ak-Sonqur, commander of the Turkic garrison in Mosul and Aleppo.

The Hospitallers restored the fortress and built many additional buildings, turning it into the largest Crusader stronghold in the Holy Land. A wall 3 to 30 meters thick was built around the fortress with watchtowers, one of which was occupied by the Grand Master of the Hospitallers. Behind the ring of the outer wall there was a courtyard, passing through which one could get to the internal premises - a hall, a chapel (which the Muslims later turned into a mosque) and a 120-meter-long storehouse. Other storage areas were hidden inside the rock on which the fortress stood, allowing Krak des Chevaliers to withstand long sieges. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. a series of earthquakes damaged some buildings, and the fortress had to be restored again.

Krak des Chevaliers was truly impregnable. He was besieged more than once, but always unsuccessfully. In 1188, the army of Saladin himself stood at the walls of the fortress. During that siege, the Arabs managed to capture the castellan. Saladin's warriors brought him to the walls of the fortress and demanded that he order the garrison to open the gates. The castellan first gave the order in Arabic to surrender the fortress, but then in French he ordered to fight to the last man.

Krak de Chevalier was taken only by deception, when Baybars I, the Sultan of Syria and Egypt, sent a false letter to the fortress, in which the Count of Tripoli allegedly ordered the fortress to surrender. As a result, Krak de Chevalier fell on April 8, 1271.

In 1272, during the Ninth Crusade, the castle was seen by the English king Edward I and admired it so much that he used Krak as a model for his castles in England and Wales.

Lawrence of Arabia, who first saw the castle in August 1909, described it as "perhaps the most delightful castle in the world."

Krak des Chevaliers Castle is the key to Christian lands. Syria.

Castle Krak des Chevaliers was on the outskirts of one of the crusader states - the County of Tripoli.

The castle covered the approaches to the main ports of the county: Tortosa (Tartus) and Tripoli (Lebanon). Among almost three dozen crusader castles, Krak has always occupied a special place; it is still considered the pinnacle of fortress construction.

Until the 11th century, there was a colony of Kurds in these parts, and there was a small Hosn al-Akrad fortress, or Kurdish castle to guard the road to Tripoli - one of the richest and most important ports of that time.

In 1099, the castle was first conquered by the Crusaders during the First Crusade, as they heard that large flocks of sheep were sheltered by local residents behind its walls. But the knights were in a hurry to go to Jerusalem, so they left the fortress.

The castle was conquered again by the Crusaders 11 years later. Then the castle changed its name, becoming Krak des Chevaliers (Castle of the Knights).
The weak fortifications of the castle required additional construction costs, but not a single knightly baron agreed to provide financial assistance. Eventually, in 1142, the ruler of the County of Tripoli, Raymond I of Antioch, transferred the castle to the military-religious Order of the Hospitallers.

IN In 1118, after the death of the founder of the brotherhood, Gerard Thomas, the monastic brotherhood turned into a spiritual knightly order.
The fact is that there was a split in the brotherhood. Nine brothers, led by the French knight Hugo de Payens, did not agree with the policy of the Hospitallers. Engaging in hard work caring for the sick and wounded was not for them; they wanted knightly deeds. And nine schismatics formed a new brotherhood - the “Knights of the Temple”, or Templars.

The Hospitallers had two options: to remain a monastic order (but then the influx of nobility into the order would be reduced) or to become, following the example of the Templars, knights. The hospitalists chose the second path.

The Hospitallers (knights of the Hospital of St. John, or Johnnites) did not obey the laws of the country where they were located, they obeyed only the Pope and the Grand Master. The Hospitallers had the right to build castles anywhere in the Holy Land and had their own churches and cemeteries. The dinner of poverty and non-covetousness remained. Those who joined the order transferred all their property, but the wealth was used for noble purposes: hospitals were built with free help, poor pilgrims were fed. One of the most important duties of the Hospitallers was the defense of fortresses and castles in the Holy Land from Muslims.

Military operations under the walls of the Krak des Chevaliers castle

With the Hospitallers Krak repelled many attacks by Muslim troops, eleven times it was a gathering place for the crusader army setting off on the next expedition.

In 1163, Sultan Nur ad-Din suffered at the walls Kraka a crushing defeat and fled on horseback almost naked (his army was surprised during the midday rest). Nur ad-Din was very upset by this defeat, but the unifier died Syria without taking it Krak.

In 1180, the Hospitallers watched from the heights of the towers as the troops of Salah ad-Din (Saladin, as the Europeans called him) (successor of Nur ad-Din) they burn their crops and steal their livestock, unable to stop it.

In 1188, Salah ad-Din set up camp opposite Kraka and spent a month there studying the fortifications. Convinced that the castle was powerful and impregnable, Salah ad-Din did not even attack it.

Capture of Krak da Chevalier Castle by Sultan Baibars

In subsequent years, Sultan Baybars, a talented and prudent commander, continued to cut off the knightly possessions. Baybars was an orphan and was sold into slavery as a boy in Damascus. He was a galley oarsman, a warrior, and eventually, through his intelligence, energy, plots and assassinations, he made his way to the Egyptian throne and ruled for over 17 years. The knightly castles in the area fell one by one under his blow. Homs And Hams.

Krak experienced great difficulties. Baybars began the siege Kraka, which turned out to be the last in the history of the castle. It was impossible to starve out the Hospitallers - there was a decent supply of food in the castle. Therefore, Baybars decided to take the castle by storm. Every step of Baybars' army was worth incredible effort. At first the warriors climbed up a narrow open path. Then they crossed the ditch. The attackers captured the main gate, but here they were met by well-organized resistance. And then the second wall.
In March 1271, the Muslims finished undermining the second wall and broke into the center Kraka. They captured the great hall, chapel, warehouses and well, but the Hospitallers hid in the southern redoubt. This citadel consisted of three powerful and high towers and had everything necessary in case of a long siege.

Then Baybars resorted to a trick. By his order, a letter was prepared from the Grand Master of the Order of the Hospitallers, in which the besieged were ordered to capitulate. A “trustworthy man” delivered a letter to the knights in the redoubt, and in 1271 the Hospitallers surrendered and were released to Tripoli on a promise of peace.
According to the concluded peace, the crusaders were forced to cede a number of fortresses.
Baybars, after taking Kraka, restored the fortress and added fortifications.

Krak was built in three stages: buildings before the earthquake of 1170, buildings of the 12th-13th centuries. and the Muslim period.
Externally, the buildings are difficult to distinguish. The top of the hill is surrounded by a double ring of walls, forming a quadrangle 200 meters long and 150 meters wide.

The castle had a large reservoir - berkil, for collecting water. The lack of water in these areas affected the increase in the number of berkils. Also in the East, European knights adopted the local custom of washing more often.
The aqueduct supplied water to the kitchen with a huge oven for baking bread.
During the Muslim period, baths were built underground to allow water to flow by gravity from the berkil.
Almost all Crusader castles in the East had a large hall for banquets, celebrations and military councils. Big hall Kraka was built in 1250 - this is an example of early Gothic architecture. At the top of one of the window openings there is an inscription in Latin: “Have wealth, have wisdom, have beauty, but beware of pride, which defiles everything it touches.”

Next to the large hall stands a simple chapel in the Romanesque style, built in 1170. Its walls were decorated with banners and trophies of war, weapons of dead knights and horse harnesses. Immediately after taking Kraka a mosque was built in the chapel, as evidenced by the minbar (raise for reading sermons) and mihrab (niche) (the mosque was used until the 20th century).

From the walls of the castle there is a panorama for many kilometers.

Krak des Chevaliers is under the protection of UNESCO.
Now there is a museum here.
Open in summer 9.00 - 17.00
In winter 9.00 - 16.00
Ramadan 9.00 - 14.00
Closed on Tuesday.

"The most beautiful castle in the world,
undoubtedly the most picturesque
of all the ones I've ever seen,
just a real miracle."
T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), 1909

Krak des Chevaliers or Krak de l'Hospital (Arabic قلعة الحصن‎‎, French Krak des Chevaliers, French Krak de l'Hospital) - “fortress of knights” in a mixture of French and Arabic). The castle rises approximately 500m above the El-Bukeia valley in Syria and occupies a strategic position along the only route from Antioch to Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. To the east is Homs, to the west is Antioch, to the north is Tripoli and, finally, to the south is Beirut. The castle is one of the most beautiful and best preserved crusader castles..

We find the first mention of Krak des Chevaliers in Muslim chronicles, where it is called “Fortress of the Kurds” (Hisn al-Akrad). Since 1031, by order of the Emir of Aleppo, a Kurdish garrison was located in it. During the First Crusade in 1099, the fortress was captured by Raymond of Saint-Gilles, but was abandoned as the crusaders continued their march towards Jerusalem. Everyone was so obsessed with the idea of ​​taking possession of the Holy City that the castle eventually remained “orphaned.”

This fortress, standing on the steep and rocky bank of the Orontes River (Syria), was an important strategic stronghold for the Crusader knights; from there they launched raids on enemies. The fortress was built in a remote area on the site of an old military fortification. At the beginning of the 13th century, it became practically invulnerable - behind two tiers of powerful walls stood an impregnable central tower-donjon

In 1102, Raymond regained the fortress, but only Tancred (French: Tancrede) was able to take complete control of the fortress and leave it with a Frankish garrison under the flag of the County of Tripoli in 1110


In 1110 the fortress was reoccupied by Tancred, prince of Galilee, and in 1142 Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, gave Krak des Chevaliers to the Order of the Hospitallers to guard the lines against possible raids by Zangi ibn Ak-Sonqur, commander of the Turkic garrison in Mosul and Aleppo.

Reconstruction of the fortress
In 1142, Raymond II, Count of Tripoli (French: Raymond II) transferred the fortress to the Order of the Hospitallers named after St. John of Jerusalem. Thanks to this acquisition, the Hospitallers (also called Johannites) were able to expand their influence all the way to Lake Homs in the east.

The Hospitallers restored the fortress and built many additional buildings, turning it into the largest Crusader stronghold in the Holy Land. A wall 3 to 30 meters thick was built around the fortress with watchtowers, one of which was occupied by the Grand Master of the Hospitallers.

Behind the ring of the outer wall there was a courtyard, passing through which one could get to the internal premises - a hall, a chapel (which the Muslims later turned into a mosque) and a 120-meter-long storehouse. Other storage areas were hidden inside the rock on which the fortress stood, allowing Krak des Chevaliers to withstand long sieges. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. a series of earthquakes damaged some buildings, and the fortress had to be restored again.

Work to strengthen the castle gave impetus to the construction of such castles as Castel Rouge (French: Chastel Rouge) and Castel Blanc (French: Chastel Blanc). In the second half of the 12th century, after the fall of the Seljuks, following the victory of Zengi over the Crusaders (the loss of Edessa), the unsuccessful siege of Damascus during the Second Crusade and the rise to power of Nur ad-Din, the Muslims joined forces and increased pressure on the Crusaders - and therefore to Krak des Chevaliers.

In 1157, a strong earthquake seriously damaged the castle, and Raymond du Puy, Grand Master of the Hospitallers, decided to rebuild the castle and turned to the King of Boheme for financial assistance.

In 1163, Nureddin attacked the castle, but his army was completely defeated at the foot of the fortress by an unexpected attack by Frankish cavalry. After the victory, the Hospitallers become their own independent force on the Tripoli border. Nureddin's repeated unsuccessful attack on the fortress took place in 1167. In 1170, another earthquake shook Krak des Chevaliers and the fortress had to be rebuilt again.
Krak des Chevaliers was truly impregnable. He was besieged more than once, but always unsuccessfully. In 1188, the army of Saladin himself stood at the walls of the fortress. Even Saladin failed to take Krak des Chevaliers. During the siege in 1188 near the walls of the fortress, the Arabs managed to capture the castellan, the keeper of the keys to the castle doors. Saladin's warriors brought him to the walls of the fortress and demanded that he order the garrison to open the gates. The castellan first gave the order in Arabic to surrender the fortress, but then, in French, he ordered to fight to the last man. By the way, a similar incident occurred during the siege of Beaufort Castle nearby.

After Saladin's death in 1193, the Muslim alliance collapsed, which gave the castle's defenders some respite. The “golden age” of the fortress began. At that time, Krak des Chevaliers could accommodate 50–60 Hospitallers and up to 2,000 ordinary soldiers with provisions for 5 years of autonomous life. It occupied an area of ​​about 2.5 hectares and was protected by two concentric walls, independent of each other
By the second half of the 13th century, the decline of the Crusaders' conquests forced the castle's garrison to be reduced to 300 people, and with the coming to power of Baybars, the Mameluke Sultan, the territories from which the castle usually collected tribute passed into Muslim hands. Baybars himself did not keep himself waiting long and attacked the fortress
He managed to break through the first wall, but did not storm the castle. He sent a false letter on behalf of the Count of Tripoli, which included an order to surrender the castle. The Sultan gave his word to the defenders that he would allow them to return to their homes in exchange for the surrender of the fortress, and on April 8 the castle garrison opened the gates. Thus ended the period of 129 years of inaccessibility of the Krak des Cheval

During Mamluk rule, the southern wall was strengthened and several buildings were added, including a Turkish bath and an aqueduct. The invasion of the Mongols led by Tamerlane (1400 - 1401) and the invasion of the Ottoman Empire in 1516 bypassed the fortress. Subsequently, the castle served as the residence of the governor, and in 1920 the fortress came under the control of the French mandate

In 1272, during the Ninth Crusade, the castle was seen by the English king Edward I and admired it so much that he used Krak as a model for his castles in England and Wales.

Lawrence of Arabia, who first saw the castle in August 1909, described it as "perhaps the most delightful castle in the world."

The castle passed to Syria after its inclusion in the United Nations. In 2003, the Russian television series “Bayazet” based on the novel of the same name by Valentin Pikul was filmed in the fortress.

Krak des Chevaliers is a unique monument of medieval architecture, which organically combines the building principles of Norman architecture and the features of Arab fortifications.

It is one of the best preserved Hospitaller fortresses in the world. In 2006, together with the Saladin citadel (30 km east of Latakia), the castle was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

There were four main requirements for fortifications of that era. The fortress had to have powerful walls with a well-developed defense system in order to hold it with small forces and provide a perspective view of the area. Inside it had to have a large space so that, if necessary, the population of the surrounding villages, livestock and food supplies could be accommodated there. And, in addition, the fortress walls had to withstand a possible direct attack from the enemy.
Line of defense


The defense system consisted of two concentric circles of thick walls. The defense of the outer walls was carried out from the territory of the lower courtyard. And the defenders of the internal fortifications fought off enemies from the towers and the upper courtyard. The castle was surrounded by a moat with water. And supplies of drinking water in case of a siege were stored in a special container in courtyard. In 1271, the troops of the Egyptian Sultan Baybars managed to break through the outer fortifications and penetrate into the lower courtyard, but they could not go further. The fall lasted for several months until the defenders surrendered to the winner.

Mashikuli

A covered bypass gallery was built in the parapet of the outer wall. On the outer side it was adjoined by hanging shelters (maschikuli), located at some distance from each other. During the battle, the defenders of the fortress, through holes in the floor, could throw stones on the heads of the attackers, remaining safe.
Vaulted gallery

A vaulted gallery stretches along the walls of the refectory; you can hide from the scorching sun in it.

In the courtyard there are the most beautiful and comfortable rooms in the castle - the chambers of the knights.

The courtyard served as a refuge for the inhabitants of the castle in the event of an enemy attack.


Support towers

The massive walls were reinforced with support towers, which served as shelter for the sentinels.

External walls
The beveled thickening at the base protected the castle from undermining and explosion.
Loopholes

The narrow slits of the loopholes were invulnerable to shells and expanded inward, forming deep niches. The archers watched the enemy from there and shot.

Aqueduct

Water entered the castle through an aqueduct and was stored in special containers in case of a siege.
Square tower

During the great siege, the tower was badly damaged and was rebuilt only 14 years later.
Additional insurance

Upper tier

The defense of the upper tier was carried out from high towers and a courtyard, where dormitories (bedrooms), warehouses, a chapel, a refectory and the chambers of the knights were located
Defense Tricks

From the eastern gate tower to the donjon there were ramps that replaced flights of stairs. The winding, narrow passage prevented the attackers from attacking, and the sharp turns prevented them from firing battering guns. Even a sharp change in light and shadow prevented uninvited guests.


Knights Hospitaller
Hospitallers or Johannites (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitable Order of St. John, Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, also known as the Order of St. John, as the Knights of Malta or the Knights of Malta; French Ordre des Hospitaliers, Maltese Ordni ta’ San Ġwann). Founded in 1080 in Jerusalem as the Amalfi Hospital, a Christian organization whose purpose was to care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims in the Holy Land. After the Christian capture of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, the organization became a religious-military order with its own charter. The order was entrusted with the care and protection of the Holy Land. Following the seizure of the Holy Land by Muslims, the order continued its activities in Rhodes, of which it was ruler, and then acted from Malta, which was a vassal subordinate to the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily.

The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem showed particular courage even after the end of the Crusades. They held a number of castles and fortresses in Syria and Palestine even when the crusaders had already been expelled from these lands.


The lack of men forced the knights to organize their defense along European lines. They directed all their efforts to the construction of giant fortresses to repel the onslaught of Muslims from them.


Inside the fortress, whose area was 2.5 hectares, there was a residence for the Master of the Order, living quarters for squires and outbuildings - grain barns, stables, a mill, a bakery, an oil mill, etc. There were also open tanks here, into which drinking water flowed through an aqueduct from a well dug in the mountains.
Following a semi-monastic lifestyle, the knights also took care of church buildings. In Krak des Chevaliers there was a monastery in whose cells the knights lived, the building of the Order Chapter and a chapel where services were conducted by St. John the chaplains. True, these cells in their decoration were sometimes very far from the asceticism that the knights proclaimed, and only the external decor was observed. On this occasion, the American researcher W. Durant aptly noted that the Johannite brothers, “who individually took a vow of poverty, collectively enjoyed luxury in their fortresses between military labors.”
At the turn of the XII-XIII centuries, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem had already achieved such power that it could compete with state power. By this time, he owned almost all the main structures of the Crusaders, especially in the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli, as well as entire quarters of some cities: for example, together with the Templars they owned Tartus, Safad and Ascalon. The ruling princes had to cede some of their privileges to the Knights of St. John step by step. In particular, the Order was already given the right to conclude peace treaties with its Muslim neighbors, and these treaties had legal force for the rulers of the Crusader states. The same agreements, signed by the rulers themselves, were not binding for the Johannites.
Fortified in their impregnable fortresses, the knights did not submit to any authority other than that of the master, and behaved as if the Order was independent. The master declared war, collected tribute from the Arab population and dictated his terms in all the possessions of the crusaders. Kings and princes, willy-nilly, had to reckon with the demands of the Johannite Knights, whose number, together with the Templars, was equal to the number of all the armed forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
However, the victories achieved by the crusaders were due not so much to their cohesion and unanimity, but to the disunity of the Muslim world, which was experiencing a period of feudal fragmentation and religious strife. But by the 12th century the situation in the Muslim world had changed: Egypt in the south and the Seljuk Turks in Syria gradually joined forces. The Seljuks were the first to show their increased power: in December 1144, Edessa fell under their blows, and a year later they completely cleared the Euphrates Valley of the Franks.
The Crusader states, surrounded by the powerful power of the Egyptian Sultan Salah ad-Din, fell into the grip of the east and south, but the barons, even in the face of growing danger, did not want to give up their rights and liberties. Instead of uniting, they continued civil strife and strife, but some They still managed to retain their positions in Palestine. In the territory of the former Kingdom of Jerusalem, Belfort and Tire remained in their hands; in the Principality of Antioch, only its capital and the citadel of Markab survived, and in the County of Tripoli - several small Templar castles and the impregnable fortress of Krak des Chevaliers.
Salah ad-Din acted carefully and did not touch the Christian strip of Syria for 12 years, but subjugated its Turkish parts one after another. However, peaceful relations with Christians, secured by the treaty of 1180, were interrupted due to the baron-adventurer Renaud of Chatillon, however, in Syria at that time he was not the only one Reno of Chatillon robbed a caravan going on pilgrimage, in which was the sister of Salah ad-Din. The Egyptian Sultan demanded satisfaction from the King of Jerusalem and, not receiving it, called for ghazavat.
The "Holy War" took the Christians by surprise, and Salah ad-Din's advances were fast and confident. In June 1147, he took Tiver-Dyad, defeated the main army of the crusaders on the heights of Gittin and captured many of them. Then the Egyptian sultan captured Acre, Bay-Rut, Caesarea and Ascalon, and Jerusalem did not even try to defend itself. At the first breach made in the wall, the city capitulated: on October 2, 1147, Salah ad-Din entered Jerusalem, and Turkish banners hoisted over its walls.

Krak des Chevaliers is the most famous castle in Syria and most likely the most famous Crusader castle outside of Europe. That is why I rushed there immediately after moving from Damascus to the city of Hama. Well, I really wanted to! This zeal was a serious tactical mistake, due to which I was never able to properly examine the southwestern coast of Syria. I didn’t get to the castle in Safit and subsequently paid very little attention to Tartus. It made sense to explore Krak from this city, and not travel kilometers from Hama. In addition, on the way to the castle I encountered a serious problem - the highway from Hama to Homs was blocked and my bus was dragged along country roads in a detour, it was too late to return and I “enjoyed” the rural Syrian pastorals for several hours. It’s good that at least the minibus from Homs took me straight to the “front porch” of the castle. So, let's begin the inspection!


Inside, behind the castle gates, there is a long, sloping corridor. It leads left and up. There were many different holes made in the arches of the corridor through which it was possible to shower arrows at enemies who burst inside. You must pass through many gates in all these passages before you get to the central rooms of the castle behind the second line of walls.

Initially, all these defensive tricks did not exist. When the participants of the first crusade arrived here in 1099, Krak Castle was a small, weakly fortified Muslim fortress, which they occupied without much difficulty. Krak became impregnable only in the 12th century, when it was seriously taken up by the Knights of the Hospitaller Order who settled here. In fact, it became their main castle.

The late northern gate, built by the Hospitallers several decades before the capture of the castle by the Muslims.

View of the northern part of the citadel and the Princess Tower. Perhaps this is the oldest part of the castle; you can see the old gate, which is covered by a tower.

Tower of the Princess. This is the most archaic tower, most likely preserved from before Frankish times.

View through the ancient gate, perhaps there used to be a single entrance here, external fortifications did not yet exist.


The Hospitallers built a second outer wall and all these passages and labyrinths of corridors. In order to examine them, you need a good flashlight, because outside the main entrance tunnel there is no lighting in the castle corridors.

"Combat move" inside the outer wall of the castle.

The Hospitallers repelled many Muslim attacks and only lost the castle in 1271. By that time, the order no longer had the same strength, and there were only a few hundred fighters in the castle. But even an insignificant garrison offered fierce resistance to the troops of Sultan Baybars who besieged it. The Mamluks poured their blood abundantly over the walls of the fortress. To get beyond the second line of walls, the Muslims had to dig a tunnel. But even once in the courtyard, Baybars’ soldiers had to storm the main towers of the southern redoubt. The surviving Hospitallers settled in the towers of the Magister and Montfrey. To get them out of there, the Sultan resorted to a trick: a false letter was made allegedly from the Master of the Order of the Hospitallers about the surrender of the castle. On April 8, 1271, the garrison of Krak surrendered and was released on a promise to behave peacefully along the way. This ended the rule of the Hospitallers in the castle; it passed into the hands of the Muslims, who further strengthened Krak by building several additional towers.
Main citadel of Krak des Chevaliers

View of the Southern Redoubt from the outer line of the walls.

The Master's Tower (left) and the Montfret Tower (right).


View from the courtyard of the citadel to the Manfre Tower and the Southern Redoubt.

Room inside the Manfre Tower.

This is not a passage to another room, but “just” one of the loopholes - the thickness of the tower walls is more than 6 meters!

Interior decoration in the Master's tower.


View from the Princess Tower of the South Redoubt, the Great Hall and the main chapel of the castle (foreground, left) The top of the chapel was a classic defensive tower.

External wall of the Great Hall. Feasts and ceremonial meetings were held here.

The Great Hall was built in 1250 and is a valuable example of early Gothic architecture.

The main chapel of the castle, later the Muslims added a minbar and mihrab (on the right). The most prominent brothers of the order were buried under the floor slabs in the chapel; there is information that elderly Hospitallers specially came to die in Krak des Chevaliers. Previously, the walls of the chapel were painted with frescoes, but now almost all of them have been lost.

A huge 120-meter corridor was intended for economic purposes. There were bakeries, wells and warehouses.

A giant oven for baking bread. In the best of times, the castle garrison could number several thousand people, and it was not easy to feed such a crowd.

The internal reservoir is a berkil, the water of which was used for household needs.

View from the south, in the foreground is the aqueduct that fed the berkil.

These holes and labyrinths are nothing more than baths, most likely built by Muslims.

View from the tower of the Southern Redoubt - the height is more than decent..

Having finished visiting the castle, I was faced with the problem of returning back; it was already dark, and there were no more minibuses to Homs. We had to stop various vehicles in order to at least get down the mountain and get to the Tartus-Homs highway.
Some cunning Arab even tried to take me for a ride through the mountains in order to paralyze my brains. He hoped that I would be afraid of getting lost and would agree to the financial demands he put forward. We rode with him for almost half an hour, during which time I did not notice any other cars on the road and waited. In the end, the “cunning Arab” also had to go down. It seems that spending the night somewhere on the top of a mountain didn’t suit him either. He drove down to the village, where I found a more reliable driver who took me to the highway; further return was a “matter of technology.”

The Krak des Chevaliers fortress is one of the largest knight's castles that has survived to this day. Krak des Chevaliers is rightfully considered the largest defensive structure created by the Crusaders in the Middle East.

Due to its unique architecture and truly colossal size, the castle is included in the list.

The history of the fortress dates back to the end of the 11th century. Until this point, on the site of the castle there was a small Kurdish fortification, which was conquered by the crusaders during the First Crusade in 1099. However, due to the strong rush, the knights quickly left this powerful bastion. The final date for the conquest of the fortress can be considered 1110, when Krak de Chevalier was recaptured from the Kurds for the second time. At that time, the castle required a fairly significant investment of funds and, in fact, until 1142 no one took care of it. In 1142, the fortification was transferred to the Order of the Hospitallers. It was the knights of this order who created the masterpiece that we can see with you now.

The Hospitallers invested huge sums in the reconstruction and rebuilding of the walls and fortifications of the fortress. The new owners added a new external wall ranging from 3 to 30 meters thick. and added 7 watchtowers. Such modernization ended with the Krak des Chevaliers fortress becoming the largest stronghold of the Christian army in the entire Middle East. Already by 1200, the castle accommodated a garrison of 2,000 people and a huge amount of provisions. Thanks to this, the defenders of the citadel were able to hold off the enemy’s siege for years. Krak des Chevaliers was truly impregnable. He was besieged more than once, but always unsuccessfully. Only in 1271 was the castle surrendered to the enemy through a forged letter from the Sultan of Syria Baybars I.

Today, the castle has retained most of its architectural grandeur, which won the hearts of many travelers of past centuries. The external buildings of the fortress were damaged due to numerous sieges and battles, but the interior remained almost in its original form. On the territory of the castle you can see the church, storage rooms, kitchen, armory and living rooms. Krak des Chevaliers is located on a small hill, which offers wonderful views of the surrounding area. Every year thousands of tourists from all over the world come to the walls of this cultural and architectural monument.

Krak des Chevaliers fortress photo.