Kerak Castle
Interesting facts
- Under the Ayyubids only the governors of Kerak and Damascus were allowed to send their official correspondence on red paper.
- The Crusaders also nicknamed it the 'Krak of the Desert', a different fortress from Krak des Chevaliers in Syria.
- Under the Mamluks the castle housed four ministries, including those of the army and of finance, and a garrison of at least 700 horsemen.
- During his 1184 siege Saladin tried to fill the rock-cut ditches so his siege engines could reach the walls, but he withdrew after about four weeks.
- After Hattin, Kerak held out for months in 1188 and is believed to have surrendered for lack of arms rather than lack of food.
- Kerak replaced the weaker castle of Montreal as the seat of Oultrejordain, and Montreal itself surrendered soon after Kerak fell.
- Part of the damage to the walls came from locals prising out stones that contained saltpetre, an ingredient of gunpowder.
- In 1893 the Ottomans installed a governor in the castle with a garrison of 1,400 men, including 200 cavalry.
- The first accurate plans of the castle were drawn in 1929 by the historian Paul Deschamps and the architect François Anus.
- The castle plays a large role in the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven.
Why it is worth it
Kerak Castle sits on the tip of a high plateau east of the Dead Sea, its long walls running along a ridge that drops away steeply on three sides. It is one of the largest castles of the Levant, and from its ramparts the view opens across the hills of ancient Moab towards the Jordan valley. Below and around it spreads the town of al-Karak, which has grown up against the castle's flanks.
Work began in the 1140s under Pagan the Butler, lord of Oultrejordain, during the reign of King Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites. The site let its lords watch Bedouin herders and the caravan routes linking Damascus with Egypt and Mecca. Pagan's successors added towers and cut two deep ditches into the rock on the north and south, the southern one doubling as a cistern. The finest Crusader work to survive is the north wall, with two levels of vast vaulted halls used as quarters, stables and a fighting gallery. The building mixes western, Byzantine and Arab ideas: square projecting towers set close together, a sloping glacis at the foot of the walls, and dark volcanic stone in the Crusader work alongside paler limestone used by later Muslim builders.
In 1176 the castle passed to Raynald of Châtillon, whose raids on caravans, and even an attempt on Mecca, provoked Saladin. Saladin besieged Kerak in 1183, when the wedding of Humphrey IV of Toron and Isabella of Jerusalem was under way inside; by the famous account, he agreed to spare the tower where the couple stayed. He returned in 1184, and after the Crusader defeat at Hattin the garrison finally surrendered in 1188. Under the Ayyubids Kerak held a royal treasury, and in 1263 the Mamluk sultan Baibars added a tower at the northwest corner. Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt wrecked much of its defences in 1834. A small archaeological museum beside the castle tells the story of Moab, the Crusaders and the town.
Getting there
The castle stands in the town of al-Karak, on the historic King's Highway. Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), south of Amman, is about 66 km away in a straight line.
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From the encyclopaedia
Kerak Castle is a large medieval castle located in al-Karak, Jordan. It is one of the largest castles in the Levant. Construction began in the 1140s, under Pagan and Fulk, King of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is referred to in history books. It was also colloquially referred to as Krak of the Desert.
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