The Nimrod Fortress or Nimrod
Castle (Hebrew: מבצר נמרוד, Mivtzar Nimrod, "Nimrod's Fortress"; Arabic: قلعة الصبيبة Qal'at al-Subeiba, "Castle of the Large
Cliff", later Qal'at Namrud,
"Nimrod's Castle") is a medieval Muslim castle situated on the southern
slopes of Mount Hermon, on a
ridge rising about 800 m (2600 feet) above sea level. It overlooks the Golan Heights and
was built with the purpose of guarding a major access route to Damascus against
armies coming from the west.
Alternative forms and spellings of the name: Nimrod's
Fortress; Kal'at/Qala'at al-/as-Subayba/Subeibeh.
The area is under Israeli occupation and
administration since 1967 together with the adjacent Golan Heights. The
international community sees the area as Syrian territory.
History
The fortress was built around 1229
by Al-Aziz 'Uthman, the younger son of Saladin, to preempt an attack on Damascus by the armies of the Sixth Crusade.
It was named Qal'at al-Subeiba, "Castle of the Large Cliff" in Arabic. The
fortress was further expanded to contain the whole ridge by 1230. In 1260
the Mongols captured the castle, dismantled some of its defenses
and left their ally, the son of Al-Aziz 'Uthman, in charge of it and the nearby
town of Banias. After the subsequent Mamluk victory over the Mongols at
the Battle of Ain Jalut, Sultan Baibars strengthened the castle and added
larger towers. The fortress was given to Baibars's second-in-command, Bilik. The new governor started the broad construction activities. When the
construction was finished, Bilik memorialized his work and glorified the name
of the sultan in a 1275 inscription. After the death of Baibars, his
son arranged for Bilik to be murdered, apparently because he feared his power.
At the end of the 13th century,
following the Muslim conquest of the port city of Acre (Akko) and the end of Crusader rule in the Holy
Land, the fortress lost
its strategic value and fell into disrepair.
The Ottoman Turks conquered
the land in 1517 and used the fortress as a luxury prison for Ottoman nobles.
The fortress was abandoned later in the 16th century and local shepherds and
their flocks were the sole guests within its walls.
The fortress was ruined by an earthquake in the 18th century.
Druze who came to the region during
the 1860 conflict between themselves and the Maronites began calling it Qal'at Namrud(Nimrod's Castle).
Description
The entire fortress complex is 420 m (1350 feet) in
length and 150 m (500 feet) in width, and is built of large, carefully squared
stones. Along the walls are numerous rectangular and semi-circular towers,
roofed with pointed cross-arches.
Overlooking the high, eastern edge of
the fortress stood a large keep, measuring 65 by 45 metres (200 by 150
feet) and protected by massive rectangular towers.
The fortress overlooks the deep, narrow
valley that separates Mount
Hermon from the
rest of the Golan Heights, the road linking the Galilee with Damascus, and the former Crusader town
of Banias.
Current condition
Today the site is administered by
the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and visitors can explore the
excavated and restored portions of the fortress.
The entrance to the fortress is from the
west, and the first section contains "secret corridors"—winding
staircases and underground water cisterns with some of the original plaster
still visible. There are many examples of "loopholes" in
fortress—special windows that are narrow on the outside but wide on the inside.
They were designed specifically for shooting bows and arrows or crossbows,
giving the defender inside the fortress plenty of room but the attacker only a
narrow slit as a target. The central part, which is accessible by a path within
the fortress, contains the remains of a keep surrounded by large rectangular
towers. In the western section, there are the remains of a fortress within a
fortress, which was protected by its own moat and drawbridge. This is the
oldest part of the castle, which was built the first.
The park entrance is located on Route
989 between Kiryat Shmona and Mount
Hermon, about twenty
minutes east of Kiryat Shmona.
Nimrod, an Israeli settlement,
is located nearby.
In the Israeli film Beaufort, the castle substituted for Beaufort Castle, which is located in southern Lebanon.