Byblos Castle

Byblos Castle (Arabic: قلعة جبيل) is a Crusader castle in Byblos, Lebanon. In Crusader times it was known as the Castle of Gibelet , also spelled Giblet, which belonged to the Genoese Republic Embriaco family, Lords of the city. It is adjacent to the Phoenician archaeological site containing the ruins of the Temple of Baalat Gebal and the Temple of the Obelisks.

The castle was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century from indigenous limestone and the remains of Roman structures. The finished structure was surrounded by a moat. It belonged to the Genoese Embriaco family, whose members were the Lords of Gibelet from 1100 to the late 13th century. Saladin captured the town and castle in 1188 and partially dismantled the walls in 1190. Later, the Crusaders recaptured Byblos and rebuilt the fortifications of the castle in 1197. In 1369, the castle had to fend off an attack from Cypriot vessels from Famagusta.

The Byblos Castle has distinguished historical buildings for neighbors. Nearby stand a few Egyptian temples, the Phoenician royal necropolis and the Roman amphitheatre.

The Crusader castle of Gibelet is "the finest example" (Boas) of a new 12th-century type, which mixes the castrum-type with the turris-type castle: a roughly square set of walls strengthened by corner towers, built around a central donjon, thus forming two layers of defense.

The castle houses the Byblos site museum. It displays remains of the excavations undertaken on the site of the archeological preserve of Byblos, although the most important finds are displayed in the National Museum of Beirut. Moreover, the history of Byblos from prehistory to the medieval periods, is illustrated with thematic panels.

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

Byblos Castle ranks #1,575 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 15 mapped in Lebanon. Founded 1103, it is older than 86% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,891 times in the last 60 days, more than 65% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Beirut, 29 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.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗