Palmyra Arab Castle

Palmyra Arab Castle is a thirteenth century Mamluk fortress overlooking the UNESCO site of Palmyra that was extensively damaged by the cultural vandals of ISIS. I’m not sure why it’s called Arab castle as I thought the Mamluks were enslaved Turks but I guess as they conquered the region from their base in Egypt they became ‘honourary’ Arabs.

My Experience

Palmyra is one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Even after 20 years I can still remember walking through the deserted site and then watching the sunrise on a hill by the Arab Castle, before the other tourists, postcard sellers and camel rides arrived for the day.

My visit was as part of a wider tour of Syria and Lebanon as detailed in my travel blog here. As soon as we stopped the coach the hawkers started, selling postcards, trinkets, camel rides, headscarves etc I wandered around for a couple of hours and there were some amazing carvings and spectacular views. The theatre was excellent, although small and the main street must have been awesome when intact.

I bought some postcards from a young lad called Hanni who was maybe 8 years old and, once I’d given him his $2, was happy to follow me around and chat. His English was excellent and he was happy to talk about the site and his life, best $2 I have ever spent. I wish I’d had a proper photo of him.

We then checked in to the hotel and I had a good soak in the bath. The hotel was pretty limited and food was functional but it was all good and the location was superb. I got up at 4.30 the next morning to watch the sunrise, which was a bit chillier than expected! I walked around the lower tombs and then to some of the other graves and then climbed one of the hillsides (interesting climbing on shale!) and sat and watched. The site was silent other than bird song and I watched the sunrise and shadows lengthen.

I walked around the city once the sun was up and took pictures whilst I was alone. I saw a desert owl sat on one of the columns but by about 7.30 the traders were starting to arrive on camel or motorbike. I had a quick chat with Hanni again and then headed back to the hotel for breakfast. This was quite a long walk and it was interesting to see the size of the columns where the desert had actually been cleared away so they weren’t buried.

There is more information in my blog and I have included a few of the site pictures below, rather than limiting it to just the castle, because so much has been destroyed by the murderous cultural vandals of ISIS in their occupations of 2015 and 2017. There are links to site below detailing the damage as well as the retired site director who was murdered by ISIS, Khaled al-Asaad.

Palmyra Arab Castle Photo Gallery

These next photos were taken in the dim and distant past of 2004 and they were not taken in RAW so these are pretty much unedited jpgs. I’d like to think my own skill in photography has moved on since then too so these may not be ideal pictures. Sorry!

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History

Palmyra Castle, also known as Fakhr-al-Din al-Ma’ani Castle (Arabic: قلعة فخر الدين المعني‎) or Tadmur Castle, is a castle overlooking Palmyra in the province of Homs, Syria.

The castle is thought to have been built by the Mamluks in the 13th century on a high hill overlooking the historic site of Palmyra, and is named for the Druze emir Fakhr-al-Din II, who extended the Druze domains to the region of Palmyra during the 16th century.

The site of the castle and Palmyra in 1980 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of the monumental ruins of a great city, which was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. The site was designated a national monument in Syria and a buffer zone was established in 2007.

The castle lying on raised bedrock was a well defended position for a fortification with thick and high walls, which was also surrounded by a moat that had only one access available through a drawbridge.

The historic site was placed on the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 2013 due to the ongoing Syrian Civil War.

The castle was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during the Palmyra offensive in May 2015. It was recaptured by Syrian government forces in another offensive in March 2016. Retreating ISIS fighters blew up parts of the castle, including the stairway leading to the entrance, causing extensive damage. The basic structure is still intact, and Syrian director of antiquities Maamoun Abdelkarim stated that the damage is repairable and the castle is to be restored. The castle was captured by ISIL once again in December 2016. However, the Syrian Army captured it again after an assault on 1 March 2017.

References

The history above is copied from the Wikipedia page here.

Artnet’s site here shows the destruction wrought by ISIS on the site.

There is a BBC article here on the retired site director, Khaled al-Asaad, who was tortured and then executed by ISIS for refusing to reveal where the mobile treasures of Palmyra had been stored.

Wikiedia has a summary of the cultural destruction wrought by ISIS in Syria here.