Beaufort Castle (Lebanon)

Beaufort or Belfort Castle, known locally as Qal'at al-Shaqif (Arabic: قلعة الشقيف, romanized: Qalʿat al-Shaqīf, lit. 'Castle of the Steep Cliff') or Shaqif Arnun (شقيف أرنون, Shaqīf Arnūn), is a Crusader fortress in Nabatieh Governorate, Southern Lebanon, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the south-south-east of the village of Arnoun. There was a fortification on the site before it was captured by Fulk, King of Jerusalem, in 1139 and construction of the Crusader castle probably began soon after. Saladin captured Beaufort in 1190, but 50 years later Crusaders re-took it. In 1268 Sultan Baibars finally captured the castle for the Islamic forces.

Beaufort provides one of the few cases in which a medieval castle proved of military value and utility in modern warfare as well, as shown by its late 20th-century history, especially during the 1982 Lebanon War. The castle was used as an Israeli Defence Forces base from 1982 until 2000 during the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. It was captured again by IDF forces in May 2026 during the 2026 Lebanon War.

Text adapted from “Beaufort Castle, Lebanon” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Beaufort Castle (Lebanon) ranks #162 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 15 mapped in Lebanon. Founded 1150, it is older than 82% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 72,373 times in the last 60 days, more than 100% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Nabatieh, 7 km away. It is one of the 109 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Levant. See how Lebanon compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗