Qal'at Saladin

Named after the great hero Saladin in commemoration to the capture of the fortress in 1188 in what is noted as one of his most successful military campaigns. Qal’at Saladin is 52 KM. east of Latakia stands on a rocky mountainside with massive walls that rise high above the fork of two flowing streams creating a grandiose presence amongst the surrounding forested landscape. While the site was probably first settled during Phoenician times in the first millennium BC, the bulk of what survives today is from the early 12th century, Succeeding Ayyubid and Mamluk administrations developed a palace, mosque, baths, cistern and a madrasa in the heart of the site. The castle was previously known as Sahone Castle or Chateau Saone, but the name changed when Saladin took it.