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castle in Damascus, Syria
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The Citadel of Damascus (Arabic: قلعة دمشق, romanized: Qalʿat Dimašq) is an Ayyubid-era medieval fortified palace and citadel in Damascus, Syria. It is part of the Ancient City of Damascus, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
The location of the current citadel was first fortified in 1076 by the Turkman warlord Atsiz bin Uvak, although it is possible but not proven that a citadel stood on this place in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. After the assassination of Atsiz bin Uvak, the project was finished by the Seljuq ruler Tutush I. The emirs of the subsequent Burid and Zengid dynasties carried out modifications and added new structures to it. During this period, the citadel and the city were besieged several times by Crusader and Muslim armies. In 1174, the citadel was captured by Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, who made it his residence and had the defences and residential buildings modified.
Saladin's brother Al-Adil rebuilt the citadel completely between 1203 and 1216 in response to the development of the counterweight trebuchet. After his death, power struggles broke out between the other Ayyubid princes and although Damascus switched hands several times, the citadel was taken by force only once, in 1239. The citadel remained in Ayyubid hands until the Mongols under their general Kitbuqa captured Damascus in 1260, thereby ending Ayyubid rule in Syria. After an unsuccessful revolt broke out in the citadel, the Mongols had most of it dismantled. After the defeat of the Mongols in 1260 by the Mamluks, who had succeeded the Ayyubids as rulers of Egypt, Damascus came under Mamluk rule. Except for brief periods in 1300 and 1401, when the Mongols conquered Damascus, the Mamluks controlled the citadel until 1516. In that year, Syria fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Damascus surrendered without a fight and from the 17th century onward the citadel functioned as barracks for the Janissaries—Ottoman infantry units. The citadel started to fall into disrepair in the 19th century and its last military use was in 1925, when French soldiers shelled the old city from the citadel in response to the Great Syrian Revolt against the French Mandate of Syria. The citadel continued to serve as a barracks and prison until 1986, when excavations and restorations started. As of 2011, excavation and restoration efforts are still ongoing.
The citadel is located in the northwest corner of the city walls, between the Bab al-Faradis and the Bab al-Jabiyah. The citadel consists of a more or less rectangular curtain wall enclosing an area of 230 by 150 metres (750 by 490 ft). The walls were originally protected by 14 massive towers, but today only 12 remain. The citadel has gates on its northern, western and eastern flanks. The current citadel dates primarily to the Ayyubid period while incorporating parts of the older Seljuq fortress. Extensive repairs in response to sieges and earthquakes were carried out in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods.
It is uncertain whether a building stood on the site of the citadel before the 11th century AD. The Ghouta, the wider area in which Damascus is located, has been occupied since at least 9000 BC, but there is no evidence for settlement within the area that is today enclosed by the city walls before the 1st millennium BC. The area occupied by the later citadel was most likely outside this first settlement. The presence of a citadel during the Hellenistic period is uncertain. Damascus certainly had a citadel during the Roman period, but whether it was located on the site of the present citadel is uncertain and subject to scholarly debate.
In 1076, Damascus was conquered by the Turkman warlord Atsiz ibn Uwaq, who established himself as the ruler of the city and began the construction of the citadel. He then tried to invade the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt but was defeated in 1077. The Fatimids subsequently built on their victory over Atsiz and besieged Damascus in 1077 and again in 1078, but both attempts to take the city were unsuccessful. The siege of 1078 was eventually lifted by Tutush I, brother of the Seljuq sultan Malik Shah I, to whom Atsiz had appealed for help. After the Fatimid besiegers had left, Tutush I took over the city and, distrusting Atsiz, had him assassinated in 1078. The construction of the citadel was finished under Tutush I.
After the death of Tutush I in 1095, Syria was divided between his sons Abu Nasr Shams al-Muluk Duqaq and Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan. Duqaq took control of Damascus while Radwan established himself as ruler of Aleppo. During Duqaq's reign (1095–1104), additional work was carried out on the citadel. In 1096, Radwan besieged the citadel but failed to capture it.
During the rule of the Burid dynasty (1104–1154), work was carried out on the citadel in response to multiple attacks on Damascus by Crusader and Muslim armies. In 1126, a Crusader army approached Damascus, but their advance was stopped 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the city. A second attempt by Crusaders in 1129 advanced to within 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of the city before they had to retreat. Crusader incursions prompted some improvements to the castle in the 1130s by Burid rulers, Taj al-Muluk Buri and Shams al-Mulk Isma'il.
Zengi, the atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, attacked Damascus in 1135 and again in 1140. Zengi's second attack was thwarted because Damascus forged a coalition with the Crusader states to the south, arguing that if Damascus were conquered, these states would fall as well. Crusader armies attacked Damascus a third time in 1148 during the Second Crusade. This siege of Damascus ended within a week when an army led by Nur ad-Din Zangi, ruler of Aleppo and the son of Zengi, threatened the besieging Crusaders, forcing them to withdraw. After unsuccessful attacks in 1150 and 1151, Nur ad-Din finally captured Damascus in 1154. The citadel was only surrendered to Nur ad-Din after Mujir ad-Din Abaq, the last Burid ruler, had been given safe passage and lordship over the city of Homs.
Nur ad-Din ruled as Zengid emir of Damascus from 1154 until his death in 1174. He took up residence in the citadel and rebuilt or refurbished its residential structures. After an earthquake hit Damascus in 1170, Nur ad-Din built a wooden house for sleeping and prayer next to the original stone residence of the citadel. In addition, he built a mosque and a fountain in the citadel. Between 1165 and 1174, Nur ad-Din re-fortified Damascus with a concentric wall, and it is possible that he also strengthened the defences of the citadel. Nur ad-Din died of an illness in the citadel on 15 May 1174 and was buried there; his body was later transferred to the Nur ad-Din Madrasah in Damascus.
Immediately following Nur ad-Din's death in 1174, Damascus was seized by Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. In that year, Saladin rode from Egypt past the Crusader states to Damascus with only 700 horsemen. The city opened its gates to Saladin without resistance, except for the citadel, which surrendered to him later that year. Saladin added a tower to the citadel and refurbished the residential buildings. Like his predecessor Nur ad-Din, Saladin died of an illness in the citadel on 4 March 1193. He was initially buried inside the citadel, but later reburied in a mausoleum near the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
At Saladin's death in 1193, rival Ayyubid factions led by Saladin's sons established themselves in Egypt, Aleppo, Damascus, and Iraq. Al-Afdal, Saladin's eldest son and emir of Damascus, was initially recognized by the younger sons as their overlord. However, hostilities broke out in 1194 between Al-Afdal and Al-Aziz Uthman, Saladin's second-oldest son and Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. In 1196, Al-Aziz and Saladin's brother Al-Adil captured Damascus, except for the citadel, where Al-Afdal had taken refuge. After negotiations, Al-Afdal surrendered the citadel and his titles to Al-Aziz and was exiled to Salkhad in the Hauran. Al-Adil recognized the overlordship of Al-Aziz and became ruler of Damascus. At the death of Al-Aziz in 1198, several members of Saladin's family, including Al-Afdal and Az-Zahir Ghazi, ruler of Aleppo, allied themselves against Al-Adil and marched on Damascus. Al-Afdal and Az-Zahir besieged Damascus in 1200 and 1201, but both attempts were unsuccessful. Al-Adil eventually negotiated a peace with Al-Afdal and Az-Zahir, who recognized Al-Adil's suzerainty as sultan of Egypt and emir of Damascus.
After his position as sultan of Egypt and emir of Damascus was secured, Al-Adil started an extensive rebuilding programme of the citadel. Between 1203 and 1216, the old fortifications were razed and a larger castle was built at the same location, incorporating parts of the old Seljuq citadel. The lower Ayyubid princes were each required to finance and build one of the large towers of the citadel. Several of Al-Adil's Ayyubid successors rebuilt many of the administrative and domestic structures inside the citadel, including residences, palaces, and a pool. As-Salih Ayyub was the only successor who also modified the defences.
Possible motivations for this complete rebuilding by Al-Adil include the damage the old citadel may have sustained from earthquakes in 1200 and 1201 and the threat that other Ayyubid princes continued to pose toward Al-Adil. The most likely motivation is that the defences of the old citadel became obsolete due to the introduction in the 12th century of the counterweight trebuchet, a siege engine easily capable of reducing thick stone walls to rubble. The new citadel introduced a number of important changes to the defensive system, including higher and thicker walls, a wide moat surrounding the citadel, and numerous closely spaced, high, massive towers. Unlike the older towers, these were square rather than round in design. The towers contained platforms on which trebuchets could be placed. Due to their high position, these trebuchets could outrange enemy artillery and thereby prevent them from breaching the walls.
After Al-Adil's death in 1218, intense power struggles broke out among his sons and other Ayyubid princes. Between 1229 and 1246, Damascus switched hands regularly and was attacked five times by different Ayyubid armies. During this period, the citadel was only once taken by force—through mining of one of its walls—in 1239. This occurred when the citadel's garrison had been reduced to below the number needed to defend a castle of that size. Following the murder in 1250 of Al-Muazzam Turanshah, the last Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, Damascus was seized by the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo, An-Nasir Yusuf. He was in control of most of Syria until the arrival of the Mongols.
When the Mongols invaded Syria and threatened Damascus after conquering Aleppo in 1260, An-Nasir fled from Damascus, leaving the city virtually undefended. The notables of Damascus started negotiations with the Mongol ruler Hulagu Khan; the city was handed over to his general Kitbuqa in 1260. When the Mongol army left Damascus to quell rebellions in the countryside, the Ayyubid garrison of the citadel revolted, as they had been instructed to do by An-Nasir. In response, the Mongols besieged the citadel in 1260. The garrison surrendered after heavy bombardments and without hope of being relieved by An-Nasir. The defences of the citadel were then largely dismantled.
The new Mamluk sultan of Egypt, Qutuz, defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. Damascus now came under Mamluk influence. In the same year, Qutuz was assassinated by his commander Baibars, who succeeded Qutuz as sultan of Egypt (1260–1277). During Baibars' reign, the citadel was rebuilt and the northern wall was moved 10 metres (33 ft) to the north. More rebuilding was completed during the reigns of the sultan Qalawun (1279–1290) and Al-Ashraf Khalil. The latter had a structure called the Blue Dome built in the citadel. It was the first dome in Syria that was decorated with coloured tiles on the outer surface, a tradition imported from Iran. Following the Mamluk defeat in the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, Damascus, except for the citadel, changed hands to the Mongols in 1300. The Mongols besieged the citadel and set up a trebuchet in the court of the Umayyad Mosque, but they withdrew from Damascus before the citadel could be taken. In the following decades, extensive reconstruction work took place on the citadel. The damage done to the citadel during the siege, primarily on its east side, was repaired. The mosque was reconstructed and enlarged, the towers were repaired, and the Blue Dome was covered with lead plates as the tiles themselves had been destroyed.
During the last two decades of the 14th century, a civil war raged in the Mamluk sultanate between Sultan Barquq, who had established the Burji dynasty in Cairo, on one side and on the other side Saif al-Din Yalbugha, governor of Aleppo, and Mintash, governor of Malatya. The city and the citadel were besieged several times during this period. During these sieges, both sides made use of siege towers, trebuchets, rockets and cannons. After Yalbugha switched sides and teamed up with Barquq, Mintash was killed in 1393, leaving Damascus and its city under the control of Barquq. Also during this time, the Zahiri Revolt, a conspiracy to overthrow Barquq, was discovered at the Citadel.
In 1400, the Mongol army under Timur, better known as Tamerlane, swept down on Syria and arrived at Damascus after having subdued Aleppo, Hama, and Baalbek. A Mamluk army from Egypt under Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq, the son of Barquq, failed to lift the siege. In 1401, the city surrendered to Timur, except for the citadel, which Timur besieged. Towers with trebuchets were set up around the citadel and in the Umayyad Mosque. The garrison surrendered after the northwestern tower was brought down through mining. The defenders were slaughtered and a heavy tribute was imposed on the citizens of Damascus. When they failed to deliver, the city was sacked and the Umayyad Mosque was burned.
The damage to the citadel, especially to its northern and western walls, was only repaired in 1407. In 1414, governor of Damascus Nawruz al-Hafizi, sought refuge in the citadel against the army of Sultan Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh. The citadel was bombarded by trebuchet and cannon. The siege ended when a treaty of surrender was signed. In 1461, the southwest tower collapsed in a fire when missiles were fired from it to force the rebellious governor of Damascus to leave the city. This tower and four others were rebuilt in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, indicating that the repairs of 1407 had been carried out in haste.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Citadel of Damascus”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.