The citadel, which crowns a hillock bordered by steep gorges, is among the most inaccessible in the Near East and deserves its reputation for
impregnability, which became proverbial in the Middle Ages – thus they said “Strong as Bourzey”.
Coming from the Ghâb valley, it is necessary to walk for a few minutes in a forest of Scots pines then take one of the two gorges to reach the top of the spur.
The escarpments are severe on the northern, eastern and southern flanks of the castle, so much so that the only front of attack was the western front, by which Saladin was to triumph.
It is on this front, below, that we find the ruins of a "fossilized" village - reminiscent in many respects of that of Montreal - whose houses are today used by local shepherds.
The general enclosure of the citadel follows the convolutions of the summit plateau, forming a sort of polygon, dominated, to the northwest by a platform bordered by
semi-natural steep slopes, which constituted the base of the fortress' redoubt.
It is possible to distinguish, in addition to the redoubt, two very distinct zones inside the enclosure.
The first, which directly adjoins the redoubt, consists of a castral town and is delimited by an intermediate
enclosure, joining the general curtain wall in the middle of the southern front. The second part, located between
the general curtain wall and the internal enclosure, can be likened to a large courtyard.
On the west front, the curtain wall, composed on this side of large, rough blocks, starts from the redoubt
then obliques towards the west, joining a projecting rectangular tower. This formed a "gate tower", comprising
two access points from the outside: the first, on the north face of the tower, consists of a very low door surmounted by a monumental lintel,
engraved to simulate bossage facings, itself surmounted by a relieving arch. This crude door - responding to the Frankish concept with a
frontal entrance - was probably filled in after Saladin's conquest to be replaced by a second, which is located on the eastern side of the tower.
The said door, scrolled, is also surmounted by a massive lintel and a monumental arch, behind which was a murder hole.
The curtain wall follows the escarpment to reach a second important tower whose particularity is to contain a circulation corridor with a pointed barrel vault,
the role of which was clearly to facilitate access to the castle village from the lower courtyard. It seems that the later construction campaigns removed all use
from this tunnel, by filling in the area located above, between the redoubt and the intermediate enclosure. The curtain wall then leads to a largely ruined
tower then a second where it then veers towards the east, thus marking the southwest corner of the castle. The corner tower, trapezoidal in shape, had two
arrow slits under niches with very little splay, one to the south, the other to the west.
On the south front of the castle, the curtain wall is largely ruined - in places almost non-existent - while the towers themselves have remained standing on the
hillside, leaving a moving sight for the visitor. At this level, the successive earthquakes have caused significant damage and it is not uncommon to find blocks
below, at the bottom of the ravine. The three orphan towers have very low doors, all topped with "saddle" lintels.
The outline of the enclosure then marks a right angle, to join the eastern front, which dominates the Orontes valley. It should be noted that at this
level the curtain wall literally changes, giving way to regular limestone blocks with rustic bossage. The enclosure continues its path to reach a small
rectangular tower, including a small semi-circular apse inside, which would suggest that it was originally a chapel, included in the rest of the enclosure.
After this "chapel tower", the curtain wall makes a hook towards the north to reach an imposing tower, which constitutes the main defense of the eastern front.
The said tower, the only element of the castle that can be seen from the plain below, stands out from the other towers of the citadel in that it includes
an imposing staircase leaning against its western face, leading directly to its upper level, forming a terrace. It is likely that this tower, due to its
position, must have had a surveillance function; the presence of the monumental staircase can be interpreted as a desire of the defenders to facilitate the
delivery of projectiles intended to feed the firing engines.
The northern front of the castle, certainly the least well fortified, dominates the steepest escarpments of the site. It is punctuated only by two small
rectangular turrets largely ruined. Note the presence of a postern in one of the towers, overlooking the ravine, whose role was probably to allow the maintenance
of the wall at this location.
The inner enclosure, which starts from the tower with the blocked tunnel, to end in the middle of the south front, is built on slight escarpments,
most of which are the result of the exploitation of the quarries that were used for its construction.
Built in medium and large rusticated brickwork, this curtain wall was pierced with arrow slits with high niches and flanked by two towers. The
first coming from the west front does not present any particularity to note except for the presence of a very ruined advanced work extending it,
the function of which remains to be determined. The second tower, slightly projecting, clearly constituted the mosque of the site, which remained unfinished.
Shortly before the connection of the inner enclosure to the general enclosure, it is worth noting the presence of a defensive work that was also
unfinished, which was undoubtedly destined to become the major work of the inner enclosure, at the level where it was to fall back towards the north front.
The incompleteness of this work marks the abandonment of the construction of the inner enclosure and justifies the presence of a connection at this location,
connecting the two enclosures, thus completing the isolation of the castle village from the large lower courtyard. This small segment of wall was pierced
by a simple door ensuring circulation between the two groups.
To the southwest of the site, the castle redoubt forms a trapezoid slightly dominating the rest of the complex. Very largely ruined on the east, south
and north fronts, it follows the outline of the external wall on its west front, which commands the rocky escarpments through which the entrance to the
fortress must have been made.
A first rectangular and strongly projecting tower has two lateral arches with niches covered in a pointed barrel vault, as well as a frontal arch with a
splay covered with a semi-circular arch, later. A second tower, largely ruined and constituting the northwest corner of the redoubt and the fortress, is
established on a promontory overlooking the wadi to the north of the castle.
These two towers seem to have been added to the redoubt, the historic core of the citadel during the construction of the external enclosure. This addition
was accompanied by a notable thickening of the original walls on the western side of the redoubt.
Inside the redoubt, we note the presence of several ruined civil buildings, as well as two cisterns, one of which, well preserved, has impressive dimensions.
Other cisterns are present here and there in the castral village and the lower courtyard, testifying to the importance of civil housing on the site.
Fig. 1
Fig. 12
Plan 3
Plan 4
