Gibelacar
A Fatimid-era fortress in northern Lebanon, later a Crusader and Mamluk stronghold.
Gibelacar, also known as Hisn Ibn Akkar or Qal'at Akkar, is a fortress in northern Lebanon. It dates to the Fatimid era of the early 11th century and was later used by Crusaders and Mamluks. The fortress became the headquarters of the Sayfa clan, whose members governed the Tripoli Eyalet from 1579 through the mid-17th century.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Akkar District, Akkar Governorate, Lebanon
- Built
- ca. 1000 (first construction)
- Builder
- Muhriz ibn Akkar (first construction)
- Condition
- Ruined
Facts from the source article.
Location
Perched on a narrow ridge carved by two ravines of the Nahr Akkar stream, Gibelacar sits in Jabal Akkar, the northernmost part of the Mount Lebanon range. The ruined fortress stretches the full 200-meter length of the ridge, with its southern tower still intact. At 700 meters above sea level, it overlooks the mountain road that climbs toward it, located 27 kilometers south of Syria’s Krak des Chevaliers at the far end of the Homs Gap.
History
The fortress was built around 1000 by Muhriz ibn Akkar and remained with his family until 1019. In 1024, during a rebellion against the Fatimid Caliphate, Salih ibn Mirdas captured it. Fatimid authority was restored in 1033 after the governor of Tripoli seized it from the Mirdasids. The Seljuk ruler Tutush I took the fortress in 1094.
By the early 12th century, it was held by the Burid ruler Tughtakin, who gave it to the Crusaders in exchange for their desisting from attacking Rafaniyya. The Crusaders called it Guibelacard by 1143 and officially renamed it Gibelacar in an 1170 edict. For much of the first half of the 12th century, it was controlled by the Puylaurens family of the County of Tripoli. Around 1167, the Zengid lord Nur ad-Din captured it.
The Crusaders recaptured it in January 1169 or between December 1169 and January 1170, imprisoning its Zengid governor. A massive earthquake beginning on 29 June 1170 destroyed the fortress. King Amalric I of Jerusalem then assigned control to the Knights Hospitallers to restore its fortifications, though court records suggest it may have remained under the County of Tripoli.
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