Acre, the final capital of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to the Mamluks in 1291 and the current city walls are an Ottoman creation., sometimes following Crusader foundations. There are traces of towers and some sections of wall that can be dated to the Crusader period but the Mamluk was policy was to render any coastal cities they captured indefensible. I have always wanted to visit the city and we finally did in December 2022.
Visiting Acre city walls
We parked in Ha-Hagana Street but there is a larger car park just outside the eastern gate, in the old moat. This page has a superb map of the old city with suggested walking routes, both through the old city and along the city walls of Acre. All routes are open 24/7 and are free to enter.
The old city is a bit of a maze so it’s easy to get disorientated inside. However it isn’t that large – maybe 10 minutes walk across it and I didn’t have any problems walking in the evening or early in the morning.
My Experience
The old city of Acre doesn’t seem to have changed much in 800 years with the interior buildings and street layout being mostly Crusader and Mameluke, patched (or not) to keep them going until now and the city walls largely follow the Crusader fortifications. There were lots of run down areas and rubbish and some amazing buildings that had just been left to decay. The sea walls (18th century Ottoman) were impressive and there were loads of fisherman using the ruined crusader defences as a base to stand on in the shallow waters.
We walked north along the sea walls but the breakfast place that we intended to go to didn’t open until later than advertised so we gave up on that and went straight to the Hospitaller Citadel. After citadel (another entry) we walked a circuit of the land walls, from the eastern city gate and then heading north and west to reach the coast. Some of this path is on the top of the walls – which aren’t very well kept and are strewn with litter – and some was at ground level on a purpose built path which was very well maintained. We then entered the city again by the Trench Roundabout and walked back to our apartment.
To give some context on Acre and the Crusades:
In 1096 the Pope preached a Crusade to free the Holy Places of the Middle East from the Muslims. Various western lords (but no royalty) took the idea up and in 1099 recaptured Jerusalem. Various other cities fell before and after and they set up a Latin kingdom (to distinguish them from the Greek or Byzantine church).
Initially all was good as the Muslims were disunited and the combination of penance for sins, land opportunities, loot and doing God’s work meant there were plenty of new recruits. After a time though the Crusaders fell to bickering and in-fighting, land and loot became rarer as conquests dried up and most importantly the Muslims were united under Salah al Din. He wiped the Christian armies out at Hattin (remember Kingdom of Heaven?), captured the king and then captured Jerusalem. Other cities fell until the crusaders were reduced to a few coastal towns.
The Third Crusade was then launched with the kings of both England and France participating. They recaptured Acre and defeated Salah al Din but didn’t take Jerusalem before they also argued like spoiled children and both went home. For the next 100 years the kingdom was based in Acre and it became a wealthy and powerful city. Crusader fortunes waxed and waned depending on the pettiness of the nobles and the unity of the Muslims but eventually the Mamelukes of Egypt made it their mission to remove the crusaders and conquered towns and castles one by one, destroying them and generally killing or enslaving the populace. Acre fell in 1291, a hundred years after Richard I captured it on the Third Crusade and the Crusades to the Middle East ended.
Two religious orders were set up around the time of the First Crusade – the Templars and the Hospitallers. If you haven’t heard of them then hang your head in shame and read some actual history. The Templars were a military order, fighting to protect pilgrim routes. The Hospitallers fought as well but also ran hospitals (hence the cunning name) to care for the sick. After the fall of Acre the military orders were at a loss to justify their existence so Philip of France used this as an excuse to seize the vast wealth of the Templars and claimed they were badger shaggers or some equally fanciful drivel to make up for his own short sighted greed. The Hospitallers carried on, setting up their main base on Rhodes til that fell to the Turks in 1522 and then Malta which defeated the Turks in the Great Siege of 1565 and were eventually dissolved by another Frenchman, Napoleon. In Britain the order was dissolved in the Reformation but then was reformed in the 19th century as St John’s Ambulance. So there’s a potted history of some of the most important events of medieval history that were probably never taught at school.
Full details of our Israel road trip are on my blog here.
Acre city walls Photo Gallery
History
Allocated to the tribe of Asher under the Israelites, Acre would come under the rule of the Assyrians (9th century BC) and the Phoenicians (6th-4th centuries BC) before being conquered by Alexander the Great. It would later be ruled by the Egyptian Ptolemid Dynasty, Syria’s Seleucids and form part of the Hasmonean Kingdom, then being taken by the Romans in 63 BC. From 638 AD, Acre became an Arab city, part of the Caliphate of Cairo.
All of these cultures and civilisations left their mark on the Old City of Acre. The ruins of various fortifications and structures can still be seen there today. However, the overwhelming character of Acre is defined by two later periods, denoting the city’s time under the Crusaders and the Ottomans.
The Crusaders took Acre in 1104 and proceeded to build an impressive set of fortifications, much of which remain. This was a time of great development and prosperity, with the erection of many public buildings such as bathhouses, markets, shops and churches. However, from 1187, Acre fell to the Muslims and proceeded to change hands many more times including falling to the Crusaders yet again under Richard the Lion Heart in 1191.
From 1517, Acre – then in a poor state due to damage from several conflicts – came under Ottoman rule, although it was not until the 18th century that reconstruction began taking place. The Ottoman redevelopment of Acre was sympathetic to the Crusader buildings, with their remaining structures being used as a basis for new construction. At this time, Acre experienced yet another period of prosperity, with many new public buildings, including mosques and homes.
Acre is also famous for being the site of a failed siege by Napoleon in 1799 and being the location of a prison for political dissidents under the British Mandate.
References
The Old Akko site here has a nice map with suggested routes to see the walls.
Traveling Israel has an interesting history of the walls here.
Israeli Blogger has a great overview of the city’s sights here.
The history above is copied from HistoryHit, here.