Galleries

Once entirely disconnected from the outside world due to its remote location and lack of roads, this site is now accessible by a sealed route right up to the castle entrance. The location, however, remains beautifully poised on its ridge at a point where three ravines meet in largely untamed and forested country. كانت هذه […]

While its deep grey basalt stone often conveys a grim and formidable impression, a visit to the castle on its breathtaking site overlooking the Mediterranean can often provide a different experience when the vegetation and wildflowers soften the scene. High on its perch where the mountains descend precipitately  into the sea, Marqab occupies a key position […]

Visitors to Apamea often don’t spare the time to visit the prominent remains of the largely Ayyubid (late eleventh century onwards) fortifications lying above the modern town of Qalaat Mudiq. This is virtually the last remaining fortified site in Syria where the villagers still live within the castle walls, though most of the town these […]

This Islamic fortification — largely the work of the twelfth century sponsored by the rulers of Aleppo — lies 102 kms northeast of Aleppo on the Euphrates River. These photos convey some essential features of the Islamic style of fortification namely the tightly-organised structure based on a circular plan with a central corridor. Entrance is […]

This isolated outpost on the middle stretch of the Euphrates was intended to protect the desert route from invaders originating in the east. An Ayyubid project, it remained in use in Mamluk and Ottoman times but the ravages of invasions (notably Mongol) and the effect of the harsh climate have left their mark on the […]

Sited in an extraordinarily dramatic location, deep in the inner recesses of the Jebal Ansariye, the Castle known to the Crusaders as the Château de Saône is today labelled the Castle of Saladin. The modern name honours the extraordinary achievement of Saladin in taking the castle in 1188, shortly after his great victory at the […]

This Ayyubid fortified post looks down over the site of Palmyra and provides a wonderful vantage-point over the classical ruins, especially at sunrise or sunset. The castle was built as part of the Ayyubid efforts to protect the desert route between the Euphrates and Damascus, with further improvements under the early Mamluks. The castle was […]