Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Krak des Chevaliers was the quintessential castle. You could only stand back and marvel at
its brute structure as one of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the
world.
The original fortress, built in 1031 for the Emir of Aleppo, was captured during the First
Crusade in 1099, then abandoned as the Crusaders continued their march towards Jerusalem.
It was reoccupied again by Tancred, Prince of Galilee in 1110 and in 1142 it was given to
the Hospitallers, a religious and military order who were contemporaries of the Crusader
Knights Templar.
As the headquarters of the Hospitallers during the Crusades, it was expanded into the largest
Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, eventually housing a garrison of 2,000. The Hospitallers
added an outer wall three metres thick with seven guard towers eight to ten metres thick to
create a concentric castle. Such castles have a higher inner wall that can be easily defended
if the outer wall is breached. In effect Krak comprised a fortress within a fortress.
When King Edward I of England, saw the fortress he used it as an example when building
his own castles in England and Wales. T. E. Lawrence described the fortress as:
“Perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world”.
The fortress had a moat crossed by a drawbridge leading to massive postern gates. We
entered the castle and proceeded up a series of ramps to the main area of the castle, passing
along dark corridors emerging into the light of internal courtyards.
On the south side, the inner curtain wall is up to 100 feet thick at the base. The moat was
an extraordinary size and still held a volume of water. A form of bridge at one end allowed
access to the massive towers enabling us to reach the highest point in the castle and walk
along the ramparts to look across the countryside. This was one impressive location.
Between the inner and outer gates a courtyard led to the inner buildings, which were rebuilt
by the Hospitallers in a Gothic style. These buildings included a meeting hall, a chapel, a
