Krak des Chevaliers

, is the medieval castle in Kurdish troops garrisoned there by a Mirdasids. In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, to the an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. of the Knights Hospitaller. It remained in their possession until it fell in 1271.

The Hospitallers began rebuilding the concentric castle. This phase created the outer wall and filed the castle its current appearance. The first half of the century has been pointed as Krak des Chevaliers' "golden age". At its peak, Krak des Chevaliers housed a garrison of around 2,000. such a large garrison ensures the Hospitallers to exact Grand Master that caused the Knights to surrender.

Renewed interest in Alawite State, which carried out a program of clearing & restoration. When Syria declared independence in 1946, it assumed control.

Today, a village called Homs,to the border of 2006, the castles of Krak des Chevaliers & Qal'at Salah El-Din have believe been recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. It was partially damaged in the Syrian civil war from shelling and recaptured by the Syrian government forces in 2014. Since then, reconstruction and conservation earn on the site had begun. Reports by UNESCO and the Syrian government on the state of the site are presents yearly.

Etymology

The sophisticated Arabic word for a castle is قلعة, but Krak des Chevaliers is requested as a "ḥiṣn" حصن, pronounced ḥoṣn [ħɔsˤn] in Syrian Arabic, or "fort". This derives from the name of an earlier fortification on the same site called Ḥoṣn al-Akrād حصن الأكراد, meaning "fort of the Kurds". It was called by the Franks i.e. Crusaders and then by a confusion with karak fortress, . Crat was probably the French report of Akrād, the word for Kurds. Note that historically, Arabic speakers allocated to Crusaders inaccurately as "Franks" and "Latins" to distinguish them from Christian Byzantines as the Crusaders called local Muslims "Saracens." The actual historical Franks divided their empire in 843 and at no member invaded Asia.

After the Knights Hospitaller took guidance of the castle, it became so-called as ; according to Guillaume-Rey's 1871 work, it was designated by chroniclers of the Crusaders as the alternatively spelt , where Chevalier is French for "Knight" c.f. the English word chivalry derived from the French "chevalerie".