Location: 65 km West of Homs, Homs Governorate Map
Open: 9am-6pm summer
9am-4pm winter
Phone: 740-002
Krak des Chevaliers or Castle of the Knights is located 65 km West of Homs, Homs Governorate in Syria. This fortress is one of the best preserved classic castle. Krak des Chevaliers was build by the Knights of Saint John in 1142. It was capable to house 4000 armed men and gained fame as impregnable surviving several sieges including that of Saladin. It fell not due to an attach, but to trickery of Sultan Baybans in 1271 who fooled Crusaders to leave fortifications. You can take a bus (cheap) or a taxi (no more than $60 both ways) from Tartus or preferably Homs. Additionally many hotels in Damascus offer bus trips to Krak des Chevaliers that are more expensive then regular busses, but are safer and more comfortable.
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 Hysn el-Akrad ("Kurdish
Castle"). By consonance, the Franks called the Krat fortress (Fr. Le
Krat), and then, similar to the Arabic term “karak” (fortress), they
began to call Krak (Fr. Le Krak).
In 1099, during the First Crusade, it was captured by Raimund IV,
Count of Toulouse, but soon the crusaders left the fortress to
continue the campaign to Jerusalem.
In 1110, the fortress was reoccupied by Tancred, the prince of
Galilee, and in 1142 Raimund II, count of Tripoli, transferred the
Crac de Chevalier to the order of the hospitaliers so that they
would protect the borders from possible raids by Zangi ibn
Ak-Soncur, the head of the Turkic garrison in Mosul and Aleppo.
Hospitallers rebuilt the fortress and built many additional
facilities, turning it into the largest crusader stronghold in the
Holy Land. Around the fortress was built a wall with a thickness of
3 to 30 meters with watch towers, one of which was occupied by the
Grand Master of Hospitallers. Behind the ring of the outer wall was
a courtyard, bypassing which one could get into the inner rooms - a
hall, a chapel (which later was turned into a mosque by Muslims) and
a 120-meter-long vault. Other storage facilities were hidden inside
the rock on which the fortress stood, so that Crac de Chevalier
could withstand prolonged sieges. At the end of XII - beginning of
XIII centuries. a series of earthquakes damaged some buildings, and
the fortress again had to be restored.
Crac de Chevalier 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
Muslims managed to capture the castellan. The soldiers of Saladin
led him to the walls of the fortress and demanded that he order the
garrison to open the gate. Castellan at first gave the Arabic order
to surrender the fortress, but then in French he ordered the fight
to the last man.
Only the Türks managed to take Krak de Chevalier by deception, when
Baybars I, the Sultan of Syria and Egypt, sent a fake letter to the
fortress in which Count Tripoli allegedly ordered the fortress to
surrender. As a result, on April 8, 1271, the Crac de Chevalier
fell.
In 1272, during the Ninth Crusade, the castle was seen by the
English king Edward I and was so admired by him 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 magnificent castle in the world."
In 2003, the Russian television series Bayazet was shot in the
fortress based on the novel of the same name by Valentin Pikul.
In 2013, the fortress was captured by terrorists.
In March 2014, during the civil war in Syria, government forces
occupied the fortress, destroying dozens of terrorists, and forced
survivors to flee to Lebanon. Earlier, during one of the Syrian Air
Force air raids, one of its towers was destroyed at the castle.
According to some reports, the tower was destroyed by the departure
of a Su-24MK bomber with a guided aerial bomb received from Russia.
High-precision ammunition breached the fortifications used by the
Syrian troops. This step allowed to preserve the historical
fortress; the usual multi-day shelling for the Syrian army would
have turned it into ruins.