The castle was built by Crusader knights in the 12th century on the site of smaller muslim stronghold. The castle is in excellent condition, since it was never taken by force. The Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller resided here and headquartered the order from there for many years. The castle was designed to hold a garrison of 2000 men, so you can imagine the scale of the structure. At the end of the crusader era there were only 200 men living in the castle and when they were surrounded by the armies of Islam, they surrended the castle in exchange for safe passage.
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