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Click the link above, and you're looking at is an absolute monster of a castle. Krak des Chevaliers represents the greatest western-style castle in history. It was the headquarters of the Kinghts Hospitaller during the Crusades.
The original fortress at the location had been built in 1031 for the emir of Aleppo.
During the First Crusade in 1099, it was captured by Raymond IV of Toulouse, but then abandoned when the Crusaders continued their march towards Jerusalem. It was reoccupied again by Tancred, Prince of Galilee, in 1110. In 1144, it was given by Raymond II, count of Tripoli, to the Hospitallers, contemporaries of the Knights Templar.
The Hospitallers rebuilt it and expanded it into the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, adding an outer wall three meters thick with seven guard towers eight to ten meters thick, to create a concentric castle. The Grand Master of the Hospitallers lived in one of the towers, and the fortress may have held about 50-60 Hospitallers plus up to 2,000 other foot soldiers. In the 12th century, the fortress had a moat covered by a drawbridge, leading to postern gates.
Between the inner and outer gates was a courtyard, leading to the inner buildings, which were rebuilt by the Hospitallers in a Gothic style. These buildings included a meeting hall, a chapel, a 120-meter-long storage facility, and two vaulted, stone stables which could have held up to a thousand horses. Other storage facilities were dug into the cliff below the fortress, and it is estimated that the Hospitallers could have withstood a siege for five years.
During the First Crusade in 1099, it was captured by Raymond IV of Toulouse, but then abandoned when the Crusaders continued their march towards Jerusalem. It was reoccupied again by Tancred, Prince of Galilee, in 1110. In 1144, it was given by Raymond II, count of Tripoli, to the Hospitallers, contemporaries of the Knights Templar.
The Hospitallers rebuilt it and expanded it into the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, adding an outer wall three meters thick with seven guard towers eight to ten meters thick, to create a concentric castle. The Grand Master of the Hospitallers lived in one of the towers, and the fortress may have held about 50-60 Hospitallers plus up to 2,000 other foot soldiers. In the 12th century, the fortress had a moat covered by a drawbridge, leading to postern gates.
Between the inner and outer gates was a courtyard, leading to the inner buildings, which were rebuilt by the Hospitallers in a Gothic style. These buildings included a meeting hall, a chapel, a 120-meter-long storage facility, and two vaulted, stone stables which could have held up to a thousand horses. Other storage facilities were dug into the cliff below the fortress, and it is estimated that the Hospitallers could have withstood a siege for five years.
It saw plenty of action, surviving two unsucessful sieges before being captured by subterfuge in 1271 (a forged letter instructing the garrison to surrender originating from the Mameluke Sultan Baibars)
The defensive plan is featured by two separate lines of defence, an outer curtained wall with several cylindrical towers, and what is known as the inner ring. They are separated by a ditch except which runs around the inner ring except in the south where there is a reservoir. The inner fortress was used as the crusader castle. The entrance has a wide ramp and a vaulted passage that leads you to the outer ring and on to a platform that links to the inner castle. Large taluses were added to the southwest and east sides to strengthen the outer wall and to make it earthquake resistant. There is a small chapel to the east of the entrance that was transformed into a mosque by Baibars, and of that mosque remains a mihrab and three minbars. Opposite the chapel are three powerful towers that strengthen the south wall. The weakest of the towers was occupied by the Master (the Grand Master of the Order). There is a spiral staircase that takes you up into his room that is round and has a cross-ribbed vault, which is supported by columns. It is linked to the bastion by a two-story lodging that is of Gothic architecture, which was being used in France at the time. There are three beautiful windows that look out from both floors. The third and most impressive of the towers is linked to the keep by a massif instead of a wall, on which many war machines would be put (Catapults, etc.). From this tower, the five-sided erection that Baibars later altered could be controlled.
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