Castle Krak des Chevaliers. Krak des Chevaliers Fortress in Syria de Chevaliers
Krak de Chevalier. Parthenon among castles
“The key to Christian lands”, “a bone in the throat of Muslims”, “The Parthenon among castles” - all this is the famous Krak des Chevaliers - rightfully first on the list of crusader castles in the Holy Land.
You can get to Krak by microbus from Homs, it is 60 km from here. It is better not to scare the locals with the indigestible French name; in Arabic the fortress is called Qalaat al-Hosn. The French name of the castle comes from the distorted Arabic “karak” - “fortress”.
The tradition of pilgrimage to the Holy Land originated in Christianity in the 4th century and at first it was not given much importance. However, in the 11th century. The belief became widespread that the epidemics, lean years and feudal strife that then befell Europe were nothing more than punishment for Christians for allowing the infidels to take possession of the Holy Sepulcher. 
In addition, at this time in Europe, due to the growing feudal fragmentation, a large number of landless knights began to appear, who had to be simply occupied with something, preferably giving them the opportunity to feed themselves. As a result, in 1095, Pope Urban II convened a council, at which he called for war against “the Persian tribe of Turks, who destroyed the churches and devastated the kingdom of God.” “Those who are sad and poor here will be joyful and rich there,” said the pope. It is clear that few could resist such promises.
The first militia, consisting mainly of the French and German poor, moved to the East already in 1096. The militia attached cloth crosses to their clothes - hence the name “crusaders”. This first batch of “God’s warriors” only reached the Bosphorus, where they were killed by the Seljuks.
The real knightly army reached Constantinople a month later. The first of the mini-states of the Crusaders in the East, centered in Edessa (Urfa, Turkey), was founded in 1098. In the same year, after a seven-month siege, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) was taken. Three years after the start of the campaign, the crusaders took Jerusalem, marking this event with a brutal massacre of Muslims and Jews.
A small fortress that stood on the site of present-day Krak was captured by the crusaders during the first campaign against Jerusalem. Due to the weak fortification qualities of the area, the knightly barons did not want to invest in strengthening the castle and, as a result, handed it over to the monks of the Order of the Hospitallers.
The Order of the Hospitallers originally appeared on the basis of a hospice (hence the name) of Italian merchants in Jerusalem. Before the Crusades, the choen were engaged in protecting, treating and feeding pilgrims. Upon entering the order, the knights took a vow of chastity, poverty and obedience. The Hospitallers, along with another powerful order - the Templars, had their own fleet, diplomatic service and reported directly to the Pope. Gradually, monastic orders became the main military force of the Crusader states by the end of the 12th century. Almost all the main fortresses passed into the hands of the Hospitallers and Templars, and around the castles there were extensive possessions of the orders.
Under the Hospitallers, Krak repelled many Muslim attacks, eleven times it was the gathering place for the entire crusader army before the next expedition. The castle was never defeated and was taken only by cunning - in 1271, after a long siege and the breakthrough of the first line of defense, by order of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars, a letter was prepared allegedly from the Grand Master of the Order of the Hospitallers with an order to surrender.
The castle has four levels of fortifications: external walls with a moat, an internal castle, a citadel of three towers and, finally, a donjon - a “command” tower. The hill on which the inner castle stands is entirely lined with smooth stone:
The Great Hall, which served as a meeting place for knights, was built in 1260 and is a valuable example of early Gothic architecture:
Commoners and simpler knights watched military councils and festivities from the gallery adjacent to the hall:
View of the gallery from the courtyard:
On one of the walls of the gallery is a popular saying in the Middle Ages in Latin: “Have wealth, have wisdom, have beauty, but beware of pride, which defiles everything it touches.”
One of the towers of the citadel is occupied by the “master’s apartments” - chambers decorated with carvings, in which the chatelaine (“commander-in-chief”) of the castle once lived and distinguished guests stayed.
View from the master's apartments:
The castle can be walked around along the outer “bank” of the moat. An aqueduct approaches one of the walls from the nearest hill.
The aqueduct was used to supply water to the castle in times of peace. In case of water, the fortress had open tanks for rainwater (so-called berkils), and huge underground cisterns.
Castle village
The sea is not far away - it can be seen from the tops of the towers.
In 1272, during the Ninth Crusade, the English king Edward I saw Krak de Chevalier and later built more than one castle in England and Wales in its image and likeness.
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 1927, during the French Mandate in Syria, restoration work began on the castle, and today the Castle of the Knights appears to visitors almost in its former splendor.
With the end of the Crusades, the military significance of the fortress sharply decreased, but the cultural and historical significance is growing every year; T. E. Lawrence in 1909 called Krak des Chevaliers the most delightful castle in the world, and in 2006 the fortress was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.
At the moment, the fortress belongs to the Syrian government.
Order of the Hospitallers
The emblem of the Order is the white eight-pointed Amalfi cross symbolizing the purity of intentions of the person wearing it.
The time of the founding of the Jerusalem Order of St. John is usually associated with the First Crusade. However, the ground for its emergence was prepared almost immediately after the official recognition of Christianity took place in the Roman Empire. After the Council of Nicea in 325, both the fate and appearance of the ancient Jewish capital underwent significant changes. Old Jerusalem was ravaged and destroyed almost 300 years before the arrival of Emperor Constantine and his mother Helen (then called Aelia Capitolina). The purpose of the royal visit was to search for the Life-Giving Cross, that is, the tree on which Jesus was crucified.
After much labor, the cross was happily acquired, and the topography of Jerusalem, as well as the whole of Palestine, was significantly transformed - many places mentioned in the Gospel and associated with the earthly life of the Savior appeared on the map of the city. Thus, in 335, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built on the site of His crucifixion, and the Church of the Ascension was erected on Mount Olive. In 532, Emperor Justinian erected a basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and with it two hospitals for the poor (one for men, the other for women). The creation of such medical shelters laid the foundation for the Christian tradition of providing selfless help to all those in need. In Europe, such hospitals were called hospitia and were built with funds from philanthropists.
Thus, Palestine quickly turned into a place with which for any believer, according to the Christian value system, the hope of cleansing from sins and salvation of the soul was associated. However, for pilgrims, the road to the Holy Land, where each of them could find shelter and help from the church, was full of dangers. Exhausted by hunger and disease, the pilgrims made it to Palestine with great difficulty. But if one of them did not want to leave this blessed land, he remained, having previously taken monastic vows, in order to do works of mercy at the monastery hospitals. This situation changed little even when Jerusalem was captured by the Arabs in 638.
In the 10th century, the Holy Land became the main center of Christian pilgrimage, and in 1048, Constantino di Panteleone, a pious merchant from the Italian republic of Amalfi, asked permission from the Egyptian Sultan to found a shelter for sick Christians in Jerusalem at the Church of Maria Latina. This shelter was named the Jerusalem Hospital of St. John, and its symbolic emblem, in memory of the founders, became the white 8-pointed Amalfi cross. Since then, the brotherhood of Benedictine monks, which initially chose John, Patriarch of Alexandria (died 620), as its patron saint, began to be called the Society of Johannites, and its members were called Hospitallers (from the Latin hospitalis - “hospitable”).
The Johnites wore black Benedictine robes with a white cross, and during campaigns they wore a red cape with the same cross. Each of these colors had its own symbolic interpretation: black, mourning, meant renunciation of earthly things, white - purity, and red - the blood of Christ.
John of Alexandria was widely known for his charitable works. Somewhat later, the Order changed its patron - it was also no coincidence that John the Baptist was chosen. He, being the son of the priest Zechariah, spent many years as a hermit in the desert, eating only grasshoppers. The life of the prophet provided an ideal example of humility for the monastic brethren.
For almost 50 years, the life of the Hospitallers flowed smoothly - between prayers and caring for the suffering - until the siege of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, which happened in 1099, disturbed the peace of peaceful monastic life. According to legend, Christians, like other residents of the besieged city, were forced to take part in the defense of Jerusalem, providing support to the 40,000-strong army of the Egyptian caliph. True, the cunning Johannites preferred to throw fresh bread on the heads of the hungry knights instead of heavy stones. When their rector Gerard was captured by the Muslim authorities and accused of treason, before the eyes of the judges this bread miraculously turned into stone, and Gerard happily escaped inevitable death. On July 15, 1099, Jerusalem, exhausted by the siege, finally fell under the furious onslaught of the crusaders.
Duke Godfrey of Bouillon generously rewarded the efforts of the monks, and many knights joined the brotherhood, taking monastic vows of obedience, piety and non-covetousness, and vowed to protect pilgrims during their travels. The official creation of the Order was confirmed first by the charter of Baldwin, the ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1104, and then, 9 years later, by a bull of Pope Paschal II. Although the first rector of the Hospitallers was canonized for his piety, the flourishing of the Order’s activities is still associated with the name of Raymond of Provence (1120-1160), who replaced Gerard as Grand Master. Raymond, who belonged to those knights who took part in the siege of Jerusalem, established completely new rules. From now on, the Order had to constantly maintain three surgeons and five doctors at the hospital, and the number of hospital beds in the best times reached 2,000. In addition, the Johannites began to receive generous monetary donations and acquire land with them. In the Holy Land alone they owned about 140 estates, and in Europe by the 13th century there were more than 19,000 estates.
Since the Brotherhood of Hospitallers initially did not provide for military activities and its members did not immediately begin to take part in battles, its first charters did not even mention knightly duties in their rules - they concerned only the rules of monastic life. At first, knights were hired with the money of philanthropists to guard pilgrims, so that the monks would not defile themselves with human blood. Later, upon admission to the Order, a division was introduced into those who joined it only temporarily, and those who took all the necessary monastic vows. War brothers were not mentioned in the statutes of the Order until 1200, when their duties were first described in the statute of Alfonso of Portugal, the ninth Grand Master. At the same time, the division of the Order members into three categories probably began to take shape: military brothers (who received the blessing to carry and use weapons), brothers who treated the sick and wounded, and chaplain brothers, whose duty included performing religious rites, such like liturgy, confession and communion.
In terms of their social status, knights were equal to monks and obeyed only the Pope; they had their own churches, cemeteries and lands belonging to them. They were also exempt from taxes, and even bishops could not excommunicate them.
After the fall of the last stronghold of the Crusaders in the East in 1291, the knights of the Order briefly moved to Cyprus, and 20 years later to Rhodes, where the Order existed until the Turkish attack in 1523. After 42 years he settled in Malta. The hospitals founded by the knights remained centers of medical art for a long time.
In 1798, Malta was captured by Napoleon's troops, this circumstance marked the beginning of the dispersion of members of the Order around the world and led to the emergence of many orders of St. John's. For a short time, during the reign of Paul I, the knights found refuge in Russia, but after the death of the emperor they were forced to move to Rome. Today the Order is called the Sovereign Military Order of Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta. Its Grand Master and reigning prince at present is Fra Andrew Bertie.
Sources.
HOMS (Syria), September 10 – RIA Novosti. Syrian specialists began to restore the 11th-century Krak des Chevaliers castle near the Syrian city of Homs, which was captured by terrorists during the fighting, according to the chief engineer for the restoration of the fortress, Khazan Hanaf, and now specialists have managed to restore the roof of the ancient chapel.
The engineer noted that restorers still have a lot of work to do. According to him, specialists are also engaged in the restoration of ancient frescoes, and their restoration is one of the main tasks.
While the militants were in the Homs area, the castle became the headquarters of terrorists, and the field commanders organized their office in the cells of the former prison, since this is the room with the thickest walls that guarantee security.
Many architectural monuments in the castle suffered at the hands of militants and, despite the fact that they are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, they have so far had to be restored only on their own.
“We have repeatedly contacted UNESCO, they told us to draw up a list of necessary works. We did, but they didn’t come to work - they say they can’t do it in wartime, although this area has long been safe. All this reminds us of Palmyra, the restoration of which UNESCO is only in the process of rebuilding paper,” said archaeologist Jamil Massukh, who is working in the fortress.
In addition to local specialists, small groups of volunteers from all over the world also periodically work in the castle; in particular, a group of archaeological students from Hungary recently completed excavations here.
The Krak des Chevaliers fortress was founded in 1031 and was garrisoned by the emir of Aleppo. In 1099, the castle was captured by the crusaders during their campaign in Jerusalem. It was the largest crusader stronghold in the east until 1271.
In 2006, the castle was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
As previously reported, the Syrian authorities are also restoring a number of monuments in the country that were destroyed by illegal armed groups during the war. Western countries and UNESCO have repeatedly promised to help Syria with this, but they have never taken part in the work - the restoration is being carried out by Syrian and Russian specialists.
After restoration, the ancient Christian monastery in Maaloula, looted by militants, recently resumed work. In addition, with the participation of specialists from the Russian Federation, the restoration of historical monuments is also underway in Aleppo, where terrorists destroyed about 30% of buildings of cultural value, as well as ancient Palmyra.
Syria is a country with a special historical flavor. The ruins of ancient cities, walls and towers of medieval castles are found everywhere here. There are also crusader castles among them, of which the first place rightfully belongs to Kraku de Chevalier. It surpasses other castles in terms of the scope of construction, the degree of preservation and the variety of fortifications. We invite you to get acquainted with the history of Krak and take a virtual walk through the castle.
The most beautiful castle in the world
Not only tourists, but also historians cannot hide their admiration for this impressive structure. Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) during his trip to the East at the beginning of the twentieth century. wrote enthusiastically about him: “... the most beautiful castle in the world, just a real miracle" Another famous researcher P. Boase compared it with such architectural wonders as the Parthenon and Chartres Cathedral.
Today Krak des Chevaliers stands 25 kilometers from the Latakia-Homs highway. The castle rises on the top of Mount Jabal Ansariyya, at an altitude of 750 m. In clear weather, from here in the south you can distinguish the high spurs of the Lebanese ridge and even the sea coast. The geographical location of the castle was chosen extremely well. The green valley at its foot is part of the natural passage between the Mediterranean coast and the interior of Syria. During the era of the Crusades, this passage became the natural border between the Christian county of Tripoli and the Muslim emirates of Hama and Homs. Krak, advanced far to the northeast of the Christian domains, should cover the approaches to the main ports of the county of Tartus and Tripoli. It also served as an important outpost for the Crusaders in their incursions into Muslim territory.
Even before the arrival of the crusaders, on the site of the current castle there was a small fortress of Hosn al-Safah, i.e. "castle on the slope." In 1031, the emir of Aleppo Shibl ad Daula settled a colony of Kurds here so that they could guard the road to Tripoli. After this, the fortress began to be called Hosn al-Akrad, i.e. "Castle of the Kurds" From here, as researchers believe, came the name given to the place by the crusaders: Krat, which later transformed into Krak. On the other hand, in the local dialect there was an Aramaic word “kark”, meaning fortress. Both names of the castle acquired a similar sound over time. By the way, the modern name, Krak de Chevalier, i.e. “castle of knights” is an invention of later times - like the modern Arabic name of the castle Qalaat al-Hosn.
Citadel of the Order of St. John
Krak was first occupied by the crusaders back in 1099. Then his siege lasted only a few days. Fearing for their fate if the castle was taken by storm, the soldiers of the garrison and surrounding residents descended from the walls on a moonless night and escaped. The fortress finally passed into the hands of Christians only in 1110. Tancred, the ruler of Antioch, the first owner of the castle, soon handed it over to Pons, Count of Tripoli. However, it was difficult for the counts of Tripoli to maintain the fortifications in proper order and maintain a permanent garrison in a remote castle. In addition, starting from 1115, Muslims constantly made attempts to regain this important strategic point for themselves. Finally, in 1142, Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, by solemn act transferred it, along with the surrounding territories, to the military-religious Order of St. John, more commonly known as the Order of the Hospitallers.
A strong earthquake in September 1157 caused significant damage to Krak's fortifications. By order of the Grand Master of the Order, Raymond de Puy, they were restored, strengthened and somewhat expanded. After a new earthquake in 1170, even more large-scale construction work was undertaken, radically changing the previous appearance of the castle and giving it the features that it retains to this day. First of all, the walls, which had fallen into disrepair, were rebuilt and rebuilt, significantly increasing their height and providing seven observation towers. Outside the castle fortifications, another outer belt of walls was built, also with twelve towers, which was supposed to make it difficult for the enemy to access the main line of defense. After a new series of earthquakes in 1201–1202. The castle walls received a massive glacis slope, which increased their resistance both to ram strikes and to destructive tremors.
Graphic reconstruction of the castle in its heyday
The scale and power of the fortifications brought Krak its well-deserved fame and contributed to its transformation into the most important center of the Hospitaller possessions in northern Syria. It was here that the residence of the master of the order was located, above which his banner rose. Eleven times the castle acted as a gathering point for troops preparing to undertake an expedition against Muslim possessions. In turn, the Muslims repeatedly tried to besiege it. In 1163, Sultan Nur ad-Din suffered such a defeat at its walls that he was forced to flee half naked on a bareback horse, saving his own life. His heir Salah ad-Din twice in 1180 and 1188. approached the walls of the castle, however, having become convinced of the power of the fortifications, he left without even trying to attack them. In 1207, the Hospitallers repelled an attack by the army of his brother Malik al-Adil. In 1218, the son of the previous one, Malik al-Ashraf, stood under the walls for several months, but was never able to break into the castle.
The first three decades of the 13th century. were the zenith of the power and glory of the owners of Krak. At this time, the Hospitallers received 4,000 dinars in tribute from the Emir of Hama, and local peasants paid them another 2,000 dinars. The castle garrison in normal times consisted of 600 soldiers: 100 of them were knights of the Order, and 500 were sergeants and privates. Often the defenders of the castle included guests from other order territories. So, in 1233, more than 2,000 warriors gathered here, of which 100 knights arrived from Cyprus, 80 from Jerusalem and 30 from Antioch.
From hand to hand
In 1249, after the defeat of the VII Crusade, difficulties began for the defenders of the Holy Land. Muslims increasingly attacked the possessions of the Hospitallers; under their attacks, their territory was steadily shrinking, and along with it, treasury revenues were decreasing. The number of new crusaders arriving from Europe became ever smaller. In 1268, the Grand Master of the Order, Hugo Revel, complained that the garrison of Krak had been reduced to only three hundred warriors. The premonition of trouble did not deceive the grandmaster. On March 3, 1271, the Egyptian Sultan Baybars, joining forces with the Syrian emirs, began the last siege of the fortress.
The castle had a five-year supply of food, and it was hardly possible to hope to starve its defenders. We could only hope for a direct assault on the fortifications. Every step on the path to victory was given to the Muslims with considerable blood. First, they had to climb up a narrow path that was well shot from the castle walls. Having climbed up, they had to drag the siege engines along with them. 28 mangonel throwing machines installed around the castle continuously threw huge stones at it. The eastern and southern parts of the fortifications were badly damaged by the shelling.
On March 15, Muslims broke into the courtyard through gaps in the eastern wall. The entrance to the castle citadel was blocked by four gates. Around every corner the attackers met well-organized resistance. Baybars gave the order to dig a tunnel under the walls. When the work was completed and the Muslims broke into the citadel on March 29, the last defenders of the castle retreated to the southern redoubt. Here were the largest towers and everything needed to endure a siege. Faced with such stubbornness, the Sultan chose to resort to cunning. On his orders, a forged letter was prepared, allegedly from the grandmaster of the Order, in which the besieged were ordered to lay down their arms. After a reliable person delivered this order to the castle, on April 8, 1271, the garrison of Krak capitulated. The surviving knights were released to Tripoli, and the castle passed into the hands of Baybars. According to the peace concluded soon, the crusaders were forced to cede a number of fortresses - such was the price that the loss of this key place cost.
South side of the castle fortifications. It was here that the Saracens managed to break through the outer belt of fortifications and break into the space between the first and second walls. When the castle passed into Muslim hands, a massive rectangular tower was built to protect the southern side, which still stands today.
Baybars immediately began to restore the destroyed fortifications, so that soon Krak again acquired a formidable appearance. For some time he served his new masters in the fight against the crusaders and their attempts to take revenge for their defeat. However, after Baybars’s heir, Sultan Qalaun, took Tripoli in 1281, its military importance faded. The castle was not affected by the invasion of Syria by Timur's troops in 1401, nor by the Ottoman conquest in 1506. At one time it served as the residence of the Turkish governor of the province. However, the governor soon found a more comfortable shelter for himself, and the garrison left after him.
The only inhabitants of the castle were local peasants. Without a shadow of a doubt, they used the interior for their own economic needs and extracted stone from old buildings. After 1859, European tourists increasingly began to visit Krak. In 1927, restoration work began at the castle. A team of archaeologists, led by Paul Deschamps, worked for several years to return the castle to its original appearance. In 1934, a museum was opened here, which is visited by thousands of tourists every year. In 1974, the castle was declared a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
A masterpiece of medieval fortification
The location of the castle largely determines its defensive architecture. As mentioned earlier, Krak occupies an elongated hilltop. Repeating its shape, the castle has the shape of a trapezoid in plan with the top directed to the north and the base oriented to the south. The length of its sides is about 200 m, the width of the base is about 150 m, so the total area of the space inside the walls does not exceed 2.5 hectares. Nature reliably protected the castle from enemy attacks. From the east, north and west, the steep slopes of the hill make it almost inaccessible.
Only from the south, where the ledge of the ridge communicates with the adjacent neighboring hill, could the enemies set up a camp, install siege engines and carry out an attack. The defenders of the castle tried to reduce the danger by digging up the ridge with several lines of ditches and building a triangular counter-scarp. The line of walls on this side had the maximum width; it was here that the most powerful and tall towers were located.
The walls and towers of the castle were erected in such a way that they rise above each other in ledges. This is especially clearly visible from the most dangerous southern side of the fortifications.
Like many other fortifications of this time, Krak was created gradually, over several centuries. Initially it was a rather weak fortification with a single tower. In the course of subsequent construction work, he acquired first one, and then two belts of walls with towers, ledges rising above each other. Such fortifications belong to the so-called. concentric type, since their defense is consistently built on several levels. The road to the castle passed under the walls of the outer defense belt; access to the interior of the fortifications was carried out along a narrow corridor at the foot of the walls of the second level. Having broken through the wall and pursuing the retreating defenders of the castle, the enemy had to overcome more and more new lines of defense one after another.
Various traps awaited him inside the castle. All corridors were shot in several directions, the passages were blocked by bars falling from above. The path to the gate was arranged in such a way that it was possible to move along it only by turning to the wall with your right side, not protected by a shield. The “dead zone” at the foot of the fortifications was shot through from box-shaped projections of machicolations hung on the wall, etc.
Section of the wall above the entrance gate. Pay attention to the remains of machicolations, which made it possible to fire at the enemy in the dead zone at the foot of the walls
The main entrance to the castle is on the east side. The Crusaders put a lot of effort into strengthening it. The gate is protected by a rectangular tower, slightly protruding forward beyond the line of the walls. Another tower, larger and more massive than the first, was erected 30 meters to the south, flanking the passage on the left side. This system made it possible to keep the passage under cross-fire. Both towers were heavily damaged during the assault and were subsequently restored. Between 1254 and 1269 the Crusaders built another gate on the north side of the castle. Apparently, they were used if, in the event of a surprise attack by the enemy, it was necessary to quickly let the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and their livestock into the castle. Two towers were built on both sides of the gate to protect it. During the assault of 1271 they were also destroyed; During the reconstruction of the castle, the parts of the towers protruding forward were rounded. Today, these gates remain blocked and half-filled with earth. Small gates for secret attacks also existed on the southern and western sides of the fortifications.
Walk through the castle
Let's try to enter the castle through the main entrance. A wooden drawbridge leads to the gate. Above the arch there is an Arabic inscription made in honor of Sultan Baybars. The text tells of the restoration work undertaken on his orders after the castle fell into Muslim hands. Passing under the arched vaults, visitors find themselves in a small guardroom. From here begins a long vaulted corridor that runs along the entire eastern wall of the castle in a southerly direction. The floor of the corridor, paved with large, irregularly shaped slabs with very wide steps, made it easy for not only pedestrians, but also horsemen to move along it. To the left of the passage, vast halls open up, directly adjacent to the outer defensive walls. They housed knights' stables, cattle stalls, and utility rooms. The road under the arches of the corridor, having passed almost 90 m to the south, then makes a sharp bend and turns again to the north. Once upon a time this was the entrance to the castle. The left wall of the gallery was then the outer surface of the fortress wall. At the site of the fork that connected both legs of the corridor, there is a small pentagonal tower. It is the last construction of the Crusaders in the castle, completed shortly before 1270. The façade of the building facing the courtyard is decorated above the entrance with heraldic images of lions - the symbols of Baibars.
From the exit of the tower there is a grandiose view of the most fortified southern part of the castle. Directly in front of visitors' feet is a large ditch filled with water, 72 m long and 16 m wide. Its purpose was to prevent undermining of the most vulnerable side of the fortifications. Usually such ditches were placed behind fortress walls, but in Krak its significance was not limited to fortification purposes. Water from the fortress moat was used for household needs: washing, washing, watering livestock, etc. It was brought here by an aqueduct adjacent to the southwestern corner tower. From the bottom of the moat, the mighty walls of the castle’s inner defensive belt rise up at a high angle.
The courtyard in the southern part of the castle. A ditch is visible directly under the wall. On the right, at the very edge, part of the pentagonal tower is visible, in which the eastern gallery leading to the entrance to the castle is located. Overhanging the moat is a massive glacis on the most fortified southern side of the citadel. Three massive towers seem to grow from the surface of the wall. On the right is tower number 21, in the middle is the “Montfret Tower”, then the “Master’s Tower”
The same area from a different shooting point. To the right is a pentagonal tower leading to the eastern gallery and the main gate of the castle. Above the entrance to it are heraldic lions, which were the coat of arms of Sultan Baibars. Overhanging the tower is the glacis of the citadel and tower No. 21
Their lower part at the very base is beveled, forming the so-called glacis, or slope. The glacis is a late structure, added to the walls only at the beginning of the 13th century. It played the role of a giant buttress and was erected not only for defensive purposes, but also to protect against the destructive effects of earthquakes. The total height of the walls in this part of the castle is 26 m, and their thickness at the base reaches 5 meters. In the upper part, the surface of the walls is crowned by three large towers. Their outer side, cut with loopholes for archers, faces south. The entrance to the interior of the towers is from the citadel. It was here that the last defenders of the castle defended themselves in 1271.
On the other side of the moat there is a passage to a 60-meter vaulted gallery, which is adjacent to the wall of the outer defensive belt. Judging by the remains of stone hitching posts, there was a huge stable here. The gallery, like the entire southern wall, is the creation of Muslim builders. During the assault, the main blow of the attackers fell here. The two round towers that were there were so damaged that they actually had to be rebuilt. Having rebuilt the wall, the masons built a gallery. However, it is possible that they used the remains of the crusaders’ buildings that previously existed here.
To strengthen the defense of the southern part of the castle, its new owners additionally erected a massive rectangular tower here. It protrudes far beyond the line of the walls, which makes it possible to keep the dead zone at their foot and the approaches to the ditch under fire. The height of the tower is 15 m. The wide upper platform was intended for the installation of throwing machines. Along the perimeter it is protected by battlements with loopholes cut into them for archers. A narrow staircase leads from the tower down into a gallery, and from there descends into an outer moat at the foot of the walls. The neighboring round corner tower, squat and massive on the outside, surprises with its elegant interior architecture. A slender octagonal column supports the vault of the vast hall. There are loopholes and windows in the walls.
Elbow of the eastern gallery. The passage down leads to the main gate of the castle, up - to the entrance to the citadel
Let's cross the courtyard again, go back into the tower with images of lions above the entrance and from the fork we will go up to the entrance to the citadel. The angle of elevation in this bend of the corridor is much steeper than in the lower gallery. Light enters the gallery through loopholes cut into the walls and ceiling. Judging by how well the gate is fortified, it was once the external entrance to the castle. The gate itself is a vaulted passage framed by so-called broken arches, that is, slightly pointed at the top. On its sides there are two small guard cells. On the wall you can see a groove intended for a lifting grille. In the side walls there are niches for a door bolt. The gate opens onto the courtyard, which is the center of the entire structure. Like the entire castle, the courtyard has a trapezoidal shape. Initially, its middle was framed along the perimeter by a vaulted gallery. The total length of the gallery is 120 m with a width of 8 m. It was built at the beginning of the 12th century. and restored in the middle of the next century. During this restoration, the original architecture of the castle courtyard underwent changes. In its western part a Great Hall with an open gallery appeared; the southern part was raised on a special platform, forming an extensive utility courtyard.
Inner courtyard of the citadel. Right under your feet is the roof of the utility yard. The open part of the yard resembles a triangle in plan. On its left side there is a gallery and behind it the Great Hall. The portico is visible right before your eyes, in the shadow of which the entrance to the chapel is hidden. A stone staircase runs across the end of the chapel to the upper platform of the walls. On the left you can see the “Princess Tower”, one of the oldest buildings in the castle. On the right is a tower, the battle platform of which is the roof of the chapel
Coming out of the gate into the courtyard, we immediately see the chapel building on the right. It is one of the oldest buildings of the castle, erected at the beginning of the 12th century. After the terrible earthquake of 1170, the building was significantly rebuilt and expanded. Today the chapel is a high single-nave hall covered with a heavy vault. Light enters here through a wide window in the center of the semicircular apse. The deep embrasure of the window emphasizes the thickness and strength of the masonry walls. The extremely simple appearance of the chapel, devoid of ornamental decor, goes surprisingly well with the fortress architecture. The only decoration of the hall are the flat columns of the pilaster. Once upon a time the walls were decorated with frescoes. During the restoration, traces of images of the Mother of God with Christ and St. John. Another decoration was the banners and military trophies hung here on the walls, as well as the weapons of fallen knights. Under the floor slabs of the chapel lie the remains of the most famous knights and heads of the Order of the Hospitallers. During excavations, six such burials were discovered under the portal. The chapel also served defense purposes. Its roof was used as the upper platform of the tower; above the apse there was a narrow passage along the wall, cut through with loopholes. From here archers could defend the approaches to the citadel gates. Immediately after the capture of Krak, a mosque was built in the chapel. It was used in this capacity until the 20th century.
The roof of the utility yard and the moat - a “wolf’s leap” - separating the citadel towers from it. A stone staircase leads to the “Montfret Tower”, then the corner of the “Master’s Tower” is visible
The façade of the Great Hall, located on the western side of the courtyard, contrasts with the severity and severity of the architecture of the castle chapel. Its premises were built during the reconstruction of the castle in the 1250s. Here the Knights Hospitaller gathered for advice and shared meals. The interior space of the hall is covered with cross vaults. Its height reaches 10 m. The arches supporting the vault rest on carved capitals of Gothic style columns. Thin column trunks contrast well with the massive architecture of the structure. The end northern wall of the hall is cut through by a large window, or tympanum, decorated with openwork carvings in the form of flowers and leaves. Even more elegant was the sculptural decor of the gallery connected to the Great Hall. Both structures were built at the same time. From the gallery, ordinary knights and sergeants could watch and listen to how the councils of the leaders of the order proceeded. This was also the favorite place of communication for the inhabitants of the castle: facing east, the gallery is illuminated by the sun only in the morning, and during the hot part of the day there is a pleasant coolness here. The façade of the gallery is divided into two doors and five windows. The doorways are decorated rather modestly, but the windows are extremely beautiful: two semicircular arches are inscribed in a slightly pointed arch, resting on double columns; the upper parts of the arches are solid, the space of the tympanum above them is filled with an openwork five-petal rose. The gallery is reminiscent of contemporary monuments of Gothic architecture of the 13th century.
On the south side of the courtyard there is a large platform resting on numerous pillars. The vaulted low halls under its floor were used as utility rooms. The food supplies and fodder collected here were enough to withstand an enemy siege for 5 years. The complexity of the passages in the western part of the courtyard forms a real labyrinth. It is all the more difficult to navigate in it because sunlight does not penetrate here. In one of the compartments you can find the 5-meter round base of a huge oven, in which bread was baked daily for the inhabitants of the castle. The stove was heated with wood; Due to its large size, heating it was a long process, so the fire here had to be maintained constantly. Water for kneading the dough was taken from a 27-meter well cut into the rock, located in the next room. It rose to the top using a wooden wheel. In the southern part of the farm yard there were rooms for storing olive oil, as well as a press. The upper open part of the platform also had a practical purpose: bread was threshed here. At the top of one of the towers in the northern part of the castle there was a windmill, where the grain obtained in this way was ground into flour.
View of the citadel from the southwest side. In the foreground is the Master's Tower
The citadel in the southern part of the castle forms an independent fortification. The staircase that leads here today from the upper platform of the utility yard did not exist in the past. The citadel was separated from the rest of the castle by a 3-meter ditch, called the “wolf’s leap” by military builders of that time. The passage through the ditch was most likely made of wood and, if necessary, was easily destroyed. In the south-eastern part of the citadel there is a massive tower No. 21. Its unusually wide loopholes were intended for firing from powerful easel crossbows. The same loopholes were installed in the gallery connecting it with the neighboring tower. The wide upper platform of the gallery was used to install throwing machines. Tower No. 22, or "Montfret Tower", hangs over the south side of the fortifications, like a ship's breakwater. Outside, it is surrounded by an open gallery with battlements and loopholes for archers. The thickness of the wall here reaches 5 m. The entrance to the tower is on the eastern side and is located approximately at the height of human height. Apparently, there was once a ladder leading here, which was removed in a moment of danger. Immediately to the left of the entrance is a guard room, which was also a toilet. A narrow staircase, hidden in the thickness of the wall, leads to the upper platform. Climbing the stairs, on the left you can see letters and magical graffiti signs left here by the inhabitants of the castle.
Of all the fortifications of the citadel, the southwestern tower is the best preserved. Initially, like other towers, there were halls illuminated by narrow loopholes. However, in the last period of the castle’s existence, the commandant’s apartments, the so-called “master’s chambers,” were built here. They were decorated with more grace than other rooms. The loopholes of the hall were turned into two wide windows, framed on the outside by double pointed arches. The walls were decorated with four columns with carved capitals. An elegant relief frieze surrounded the perimeter of the upper part of the hall. The "Master's Tower" is the highest point of the castle. Along a narrow staircase you can climb to its upper platform, which has now lost the jagged parapet that once framed it. The base of the small watchtower that stood above is still visible here. From the upper platform there is a magnificent view of the castle located at the foot of the tower, the mountain ranges surrounding it from the west, north and east, and the valley stretching to the south. In good weather, a strip of the Mediterranean Sea glitters far to the west.
View of the castle from the western side of the fortifications
History of the Krak des Chevaliers fortress
Krak des Chevaliers was originally called Hysn al-Akrad, which meant “the fortress of the Kurds.” The French called the stronghold simply Krat, and then Krak, distorting the Arabic word “karak” (castle). The modern name can be translated as “castle of knights.” The stronghold is also called Krak de l'Hopital, recalling that the citadel belonged to the Order of the Hospitallers.
The first mentions of the castle can be found in chronicles of the 11th century. The garrison of the Emir of Aleppo was located here. At the end of the 11th century, during the First Crusade, Krak des Chevaliers was captured by the crusader Count of Toulouse. But he did not stay in the fortress for long, continuing his campaign against Jerusalem. At the beginning of the 12th century, the castle was again in the hands of the Crusaders.
The Order of the Hospitallers, which for a long time belonged to the citadel, restored Krak des Chevaliers. Many new buildings appeared on the territory of the fortress, and significant changes were made to the architecture of the castle. The citadel was supposed to serve as one of the most important strongholds of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. The Krak des Chevaliers had to be reconstructed not only after the assaults, but also after the earthquakes. The castle was recaptured from the Crusaders only in the second half of the 13th century.
The Krak des Chevaliers fortress became a model for some strongholds in Great Britain. In 1272, during the next crusade, the English king Edward I saw the Krak des Chevaliers. He liked the castle so much that he ordered the construction of similar fortresses in Wales and England.
Already in the new millennium, the Krak des Chevaliers fortress continues to remain at the center of many world events. In 2003, the Russian TV series “Bayazet” was filmed here, and just 10 years after filming, the castle was captured by terrorists. In 2014, Syrian government troops were able to recapture Krak des Chevaliers, killing several dozen criminals. Currently, the fortress remains in almost the same condition as before the outbreak of hostilities in Syria. Only one of the towers was seriously damaged, destroyed during an air raid.
Walk through the fortress
You can visit Krak des Chevaliers on your own, but it is better to do it with a tourist group or with a guide.
Visitors enter the castle via a wooden bridge. Above the portal there is an inscription in Arabic. It was done immediately after the citadel was returned to the Muslims. The inscription tells about the restoration work that was carried out in the fortress by order of Sultan Baybars. The floor of the galleries of the Krak des Chevaliers fortress is paved with irregularly shaped stone slabs. The steps leading from one floor to another are very wide. The stairs are gentle. All this was done so that not only people on foot, but also those on horseback could move around the fortress. While walking, travelers should pay attention to:
- ditch Its purpose was, first of all, to protect the most vulnerable parts of the fortress from undermining. Water came from an aqueduct near the western corner tower and was used for household needs. The ditch is 72 m long and 16 m wide. The walls of the internal defensive belt rise from its bottom;
- glacis. It is not possible to see a glacis (slope) at every European medieval fortress. It served as a buttress and made the assault difficult. In addition, the slope was used to strengthen the building, protecting it during earthquakes. Glacis was built in the 13th century;
- chapel. This is one of the oldest buildings that can be found in the courtyard. The chapel was erected in the 12th century. After one of the earthquakes it was badly damaged and was rebuilt with significant changes. The walls of the religious building were decorated with frescoes depicting St. John, Christ and the Virgin Mary. Trophies and banners were hung in the chapel, as well as weapons of knights killed in battle. Under the heavy slabs of this building are buried the remains of the Masters of the Order and ordinary Hospitallers who distinguished themselves in battle. After the expulsion of the crusaders from the Krak des Chevaliers fortress, a mosque was built in the chapel, which was used for its intended purpose until the beginning of the last century;
- Big hall. This room is located in the western part of the courtyard. The hall was built in the 1250s during one of the reconstructions of the citadel. The room was used for meals and meetings;
- Master's Tower The highest point of the Krak des Chevaliers fortress is located here. You can climb a special staircase to the observation deck, from which it is convenient to view the surroundings.
While walking around the castle, it is worth checking out the utility rooms. Most of them were intended for storing provisions. The barns contained such a quantity of food supplies that the knights could withstand an enemy siege for five years.
Excursions
Despite the difficult situation in which Syria has found itself since the early 2010s, tourism in this country continues to develop. Krak des Chevaliers is open daily from 9.00 to 16.00 (November to March) and from 9.00 to 18.00 (April to October). Paid entrance. You can relax in the cafe located in the “Princess” (“King’s Daughter”) tower.
How to get there
Foreign tourists must first arrive in Syria by any convenient means. You can get to the Krak des Chevaliers castle directly from Damascus by taxi, but this option is considered one of the most expensive. It is much cheaper to get to the fortress from Homs. Minibuses leave from there every day to the foot of the Krak des Chevaliers. Transport usually goes to the small settlement of Hosn, located near the castle. Some drivers can take travelers to the fortress for free or for an additional fee. Minibuses going to the citadel should be found near the La table ronde hotel. There is no clear schedule - the bus departs after it is completely filled with tourists.
The Krak des Chevaliers fortress is located in Syria, in the place where a thousand years ago the Crusaders' route to the Holy Land lay, near the route from ancient Antioch (the current Turkish city of Antakya) to, from Homs to the Mediterranean Sea.The colossal medieval building stands on a dominant hill. The fortress was built far from large cities.
Story
Before the Crusaders appeared in these places, there was already a defensive structure on the hill, built by the Kurds, who were in the service of the Arab emir - the ruler of the city of Aleppo. The earlier Arabic name for this place was Hisn (Khysn) al-Akrad, or "Kurdish fortress".
During the First Crusade, Raymond IV (c. 1042-1105) - Count of Toulouse - captured a Kurdish fortification in 1099. True, the count limited himself to this: the crusaders left the fortification, and it was forgotten for a while, remaining aloof from the main routes of movement of the crusaders.
She was remembered in 1110 by Tancred (1072-1112), prince of Galilee - a vassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By that time, the First Crusade was considered completed, and the time had come for the knights to take care of protecting the borders of the new states they had created in the Middle East. The garrison left in the fortress by Tancred slowly rebuilt the old fortifications left by the Kurds, and with varying degrees of success fought off attacks by nomadic tribes.
This continued until 1142, when several years before the start of the Second Crusade of 1147-1149. Raymond II (c. 1115-1152), Count of Tripoli, having taken possession of the hill and fortress, transferred Krak des Chevaliers to the Order of the Knights Hospitaller. The agreement between Raymond II and the order provided that the Hospitallers would guard the borders of the Holy Land from raids by the troops of Zangi ibn Ak-Sonqur, who at that time commanded the Turkic garrison in Mosul and Aleppo. The count calculated everything correctly: by that time the Order of the Hospitallers had become a powerful military-religious organization that provided armed protection of the borders of the Middle Eastern counties in exchange for generous gifts. In addition to the Kurdish fortress, they were given several other smaller fortifications.
The Hospitallers, led by very enterprising and business people, had their own views of the fortress, which stood at the crossroads of trade routes. In addition, the fortification, located on an isolated peak, which could house up to two thousand soldiers, made it possible to control the area between the two rich cities of Homs and Hama. The Hospitallers turned Krak des Chevaliers into the center of crusader power throughout the Middle East. Waves of nomads simply crashed against the impregnable walls of the fortress.
Krak des Chevaliers fell only in 1271, when the defenders of the fortress, who desperately resisted, were given a forged letter ordering the Count of Tripoli to surrender.
The castle was surrounded by two perimeter walls. Its main territory was divided into a lower courtyard, from which the external walls were protected, and an upper courtyard, from which, in the event of a breakthrough, the interior of the castle was defended. Water supplies were stored in the lower courtyard in case of a siege. In peacetime, the castle was supplied with water from the moat that surrounded it.
For its time, the Krak des Chevaliers castle was the last word in the science of fortification and the construction of defensive structures.
Krak des Chevaliers is a universally recognized unique monument of medieval fortress architecture, one of the best preserved Hospitaller castles in the world. Ancient historians wrote about him that “even while defending, he advances.” This laconic phrase implied that, even while on the defensive, the defenders of the castle were capable of inflicting a crushing defeat on the besiegers. And all - thanks to a sophisticated system of fortress walls, towers, passages and an underground labyrinth.
The preservation, coupled with an ingeniously thought-out defensive system, became the basis for the inclusion of the Krak des Chevaliers in 2006 (together with the Saladin citadel, 30 km east of Latakia) on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The peculiarity of the architecture of Krak des Chevaliers, which made it impregnable, is that the castle is skillfully integrated into the terrain. Firstly, the fortress stands on a hill, and secondly, its defense system is of the “concentric” type, when the central citadel is surrounded by several rings of walls. By the way, such a fortress plan was atypical for Europe: the Hospitallers borrowed the idea from builders in the Middle East, and Krak des Chevaliers became one of the first fortresses of this type created by the crusaders.
First, the knights built a temple on the top of the hill. A wall was then erected to completely surround it. In several places the wall was supplemented with towers, which not only served a defensive function, but also served as living quarters: they housed the fortress garrison. One of the towers also contained the personal chambers of the Grand Master of the Hospitaller Order.
In plan, the line of the walls plays up the contours of the upper platform of the hill, repeating its partially rounded shapes, which sets Krak des Chevaliers apart from other Hospitaller castles, who preferred the rectangular layout of the hill on which it is built. The outer walls of the castle, thanks to which it acquired its recognizable appearance, were built at the final stage of construction. The work to erect these mighty 9-meter walls took several decades.
The walls and towers are made of limestone and faced with white stone, so skillfully that the use of mortar is not noticeable.
Another achievement of the builders is that the embrasures for archers were cut in such a way as to minimize the area of the “dead” (unfired) zone. This result was achieved, in particular, by the construction of machicolations - hinged loopholes in the upper part of the fortress walls and towers.
During its short period of prosperity, the castle was rebuilt several times. In 1170 there was a strong earthquake that destroyed the fortress temple, on the site of which a new one was built. The castle underwent significant reconstruction in 1202 - after another earthquake. After the 13th century No construction work was carried out at the castle.
general information
Purpose: fortification structure.Construction period: 1142-1271
Location: Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean.
Administrative affiliation: Tartus Governorate.
Nearest cities: Homs (Syria) - 652,609 people. (2004), Tripoli (Lebanon) - 188,958 people. (2008).
Modern language (Tartus): Arabic.
Ethnic composition: Syrian Arabs.
Religions: Islam, mainly Alawism (a form of Shiism), to a lesser extent Sunnism and Christianity.
Currency unit: Syrian pound.
Numbers
Length: length of the external fortress wall - 200 m, width - 150 m.Height: total glacis and walls 26 m.
Wall thickness: maximum - up to 5 m (Montfret Tower).
Height above sea level: 650 m.
Garrison: more than 2000 people.
Well depth: up to 27 m.
Distance: 65 km west of the city of Homs (Syria), approx. 40 km to the Mediterranean Sea.
Climate and weather
Arid continental.Average January temperature: +12°С.
Average temperature in July: +28°С.
Average annual precipitation: 250 mm.
Relative humidity: 50%.
Attractions
■ Architectural: two perimeter walls with towers, three donjons, a moat-reservoir, a Gothic hall, a Romanesque chapel (late 12th century, from the 1260s - a mosque).Curious facts
■ When the Hospitallers took possession of the fortress, the crusaders gave it a new name - Le Crat, or Le Krak: a distorted pronunciation of the Arabic “al-Akrad”. The Hospitallers gave it the name Krak de l'Hospital, or “Fortress of the Hospitallers.” This is how the fortress was called until the 19th century, when, with the light hand of the French archaeologist and orientalist Emmanuel Guillaume-Ry (1837-1916), the first European explorer of the castle - the name Krak des Chevaliers, “knight’s castle,” appeared in scientific publications.■ In 1188, the army of Saladin himself approached the walls of Krak des Chevaliers. It was not possible to take the fortress by storm, but its castellan (manager) was captured by the Arabs. The Arabs brought him to the fortress and ordered him to demand that the gates be opened. The courageous castellan first gave the order in Arabic to surrender the fortress, and in French - to fight to the last.
■ In 1272, during the Eighth Crusade, Prince Edward - the future English king Edward I Longshanks (1239-1307) - saw Krak des Chevaliers. The appearance of the castle delighted the prince so much that, upon being crowned, he ordered it to be taken as a model for castles in England and Wales.
■ In 2014, during the civil war in Syria, government troops occupied Krak des Chevaliers, where rebels were defending themselves. During an air raid by the Syrian Air Force, one of the castle towers was destroyed.
■ The Order of the Hospitallers obeyed only the Pope, did not pay tithes and built their own churches. During the heyday of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, he owned a dozen large fortresses, but pinned his greatest hopes on the gift of Raymond II, deciding to turn the former Kurdish fortress into a symbol of invincibility, strength and faith of the order.
■ There were nine cisterns in the fortress to collect rainwater that flowed from the roofs, from where the water flowed into a berkil pool 72 m long and up to 16 m wide.
■ The fortress owes its prosperity to the fact that the lands surrounding the fortress hill were fertile. There were also many streams flowing here, and rains were quite frequent. Therefore, the Hospitallers had no shortage of food, which distinguished Krak des Chevaliers from many other fortresses of the Holy Land.