Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din
These two castles are the most representative examples of the exchange of influences and the evolution of Near Eastern defensive architecture during the Crusades (11th-13th centuries). The Castle of the Knights was built between 1142 and 1271 by the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. Further work by the Mamluks in the late 13th century made it one of the best preserved Crusader castles. The Fortress of Saladin (Qal'at Salah El-Din), although partly in ruins, is an outstanding example of this type of fortification, both in terms of the quality of its construction and the preservation of its historical strata. It retains features from the 10th-century Byzantine period, Frankish modifications from the late 12th century, and fortifications added during the Ayyubid period (late 12th to mid-13th century).