Crac des Chevaliers

Crac des Chevaliers is one of the most distinctive and best-preserved examples of Crusader military architecture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was built to guard the des territories conquered after the First Crusade and was occupied by the Crusaders from 1110 to 1271. The fortress is located in the Gap of Homs, Syria, and rises 650 metres above the plain now known as Al-Bukeia. The plain is surrounded by two massifs: the Jebel Ansarieh, in which Crac des Chevaliers is located, to the north-west and the Lebanon Mountains to the south-west. The strategic location of the fortress allowed it to keep watch over the wide corridor that would have given easy access to Muslim armies coming from Homs or Hama. Since antiquity, major roads have passed through here. Over the centuries, the castle was rebuilt and extended several times. Before the arrival of the Crusaders, there had already been a fortress on the spot that had been occupied by a garrison of Kurdish soldiers in the service of the emir of Homs. It was called Hosn al-Akrad (“the castle of the Kurds”). Tancred, the Norman duke of Antioch, took the castle in 1110 and made a gift of it to his son Pons. The edifice then became part of the County of Tripoli. In 1142 Raymond I, count of Tripoli and son of Pons, gave the fortress to the Hospitallers.

There are few traces of the original Kurdish castle of 1031 or of the initial phases of the Crusaders’ construction. After a major earthquake in 1170, the Hospitallers rebuilt Crac des Chevaliers almost entirely. The design and technical quality of the castle were remarkable. The castle comprises a large triangular gallery with ribbed vaults designed like fortified barracks and is flanked by five square towers. A chapel was built in the north-west tower and two moats were dug to ensure the building’s defence. Ashlar masonry was used to build all the castle’s walls.

In the late twelfth century, the presence of Saladin and his successors gave rise to military tensions that slowed down the works undertaken on the fortress.

It was not until the second quarter of the thirteenth century that work began on major extension. They gave Crac des Chevaliers the appearance it still has to this day. The fortifications were then reinforced with the addition of new round towers and a second enclosure.

In the mid-thirteenth century, two important architectural works – fully inspired by French Gothic – were created in the heart of the building: the Salle des Chevaliers (“Knights’ Hall”), which comprised two rooms, and a round hall located on the second floor of the south-west tower.

A final few fortification works were undertaken so that the fortress would not fall into the hands of the Mamluks in 1271. Subsequently, the chapel was transformed into a mosque and the damaged sections were repaired. The defence system in various parts of the fortress was also reinforced. The very last works are thought to date from 1301–03. The building served as barracks until the Ottoman period.