Qalaat al-Madiq

Qalaat al-Madiq (Arabic: قلعة المضيق also spelled Kal'at al-Mudik or Qal'at al-Mudiq; also known as Afamiyya or Famiyyah) is a town and medieval fortress in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated in the al-Ghab plain, on the eastern bank of the Orontes River. Nearby localities include the district center al-Suqaylabiyah to the south, Bureij and Karnaz to the southeast, Kafr Nabudah to the east, al-Huwash to the north, Huwayjah al-Sallah and Shathah to the northwest and Al-Tuwayni and Ennab to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Qalaat al-Madiq had a population of 12,925 in the 2004 census.

It is the administrative center and second largest locality in the Qalaat al-Madiq nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consisted of 40 localities with a collective population of 85,597 in 2004. The town's inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.

Qalaat al-Madiq is the site of the ancient city of Apamea, the ruins of which are located just east of the town. The modern fortress, after which the town was named, was built during Muslim rule in the 12th century. It is still inhabited by townspeople. The Syrian Armed Forces retook this town from rebels during the May 2019 Hama offensive.

Text adapted from “Qalaat al-Madiq” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Qalaat al-Madiq ranks #2,370 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #13 of the 37 mapped in Syria. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,504 times in the last 60 days, more than 59% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Ma'arrat Nu'man, 35 km away. It is one of the 109 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Levant. See how Syria compares in the castle statistics.

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