Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (5 page)

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Authors: Kate Raphael

Tags: #Arts & Photography, #Architecture, #Buildings, #History, #Middle East, #Egypt, #Politics & Social Sciences, #Social Sciences, #Human Geography, #Building Types & Styles, #World, #Medieval, #Humanities

BOOK: Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols
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4.17 Safad, reconstruction of the central tower. Note the cistern below. Illustration by S. Rotem

4.18 Safad, reconstruction to the entrance to the central tower. Note the latrines and fine masonry. Illustration by S. Rotem

4.19 Safad, central round tower. Note the construction and the dimension of the stone blocks

4.20 Qāqūn, the tower (left) and the village from the southeast (1918). Aerial photograph, Royal Air Force, UK

4.21 Qāqūn, the tower (2004). Aerial photograph, courtesy of David Silverman

4.22 Qāqūn, plan of first floor and suggested reconstruction of the tower D. Pringle,
The ed Tower (al Burj al
) Settlement in the Plain of Sharon at the Time of the Crusaders and Mamluks
A.D. 1099–1516, London, 1986, 66. Courtesy of Prof. Pringle Cardiff School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University

4.23 Qāqūn, masonry and construction. Note the columns inserted in the southwest corner

4.24 Karak. Plan adapted from W. Müller-Wiener,
Castles of the Crusaders
, trans. J. Brownjohn, London, 1966, 4

4.25 Karak, the Frankish entrance along the northeast corner

4.26 Karak, Mamluk western galleries with their barrel-shaped vaults

4.27 Karak, western entrance into the Mamluk galleries and the oculus above the inner staircase

4.28 Karak, the Mamluk keep. Note the remains of the Frankish towers destroyed during the Keep’s construction

4.29 Karak, Baybars’ panther adorning the inscription on the southern keep

4.30 Karak, Mamluk and Frankish masonry

4.31 Karak, the western wall of the fourteenth-century Mamluk palace

4.32 Al-Bāra, the fortress in the early twentieth century and 2004 Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.33 Al-Bīra, aerial photo (U.S. Air Force, 1968) and schematic plan of the fortress. Plan adapted from A. Cihat Kürkcüoğlu,
Birecik Monografisi
Ankara, 1996. Aerial photo, Corona Images DS1105–1009DA010 1968/11/04

4.34 Al-Bīra, the town curtain walls and the octagonal tower in the southern corner. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.35 Al-Bīra, cliffs adorned with curtain walls. Note the exit to the river bank (1, 2). Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.36 Al-Bīra, pillars inserted in the lower half of the southeast tower. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.37 Al-Bīra, arrow slits along the southern glacis. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.38 Al-Bīra, the large tower on the southwest (F). Note (1) the entrance; (2) the inscription on the ceiling, covered in soot; and (3) the main hall. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.39 Al-Bīra, the large built entrance in the east, possibly the main gate. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.40 Al-Bīra, rock carved passage in the west

4.41 Al-Bīra, vaulted halls along the east and northeast. Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, The Creswell Archive

4.42
. Plan adapted from T. E. Lawrence,
Oriental Assembly
, ed. A. W. Lawrence, London, 1939, pl. 15

4.43
, before and after the flooding of the valley

4.44
, southern moat

4.45
, the zigzag wall on the east

4.46
, archers’ galleries and vaulted hall. Note the dense line of machicoulis

4.47
, Armenian and Mamluk arrow slits

4.48
, the eastern gate

4.49
, carved and built entrances along the multiple gate system

4.50
, Mamluk tower and glacis along the western inner wall

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