White Chastel

Geographical description

The Chastel Blanc (baptized the white tower by the inhabitants of the area) is located in Syria between Tortose and Tripoli in the interior mountains. It was built by the templiers on already existing fortifications. This tower was not the single fortification of the Syrian city of Safita, but it is the only one to have resisted during all the period - including the Earthquake of 1202. Located on highest of the three hills of Safita, the tower offers a dominant sight on the surrounding countryside.

Organization

Of a dimension of 18 out of 31 meters, Chastel Blanc culminates with 28 meters in height. The two stages of the structure were built out of limestone and the covered floor of large stone plates. The vault dedicated to Saint-Michel occupies the ground floor, rises with ten seven meters height for thirty and one meters length. Several small windows, that the archers used to defend the tower, are on the second floor. It is possible to reach it by a partly destroyed slope of staircases. The ceiling of white Chastel is supported by robust columns. The large bell joined with the Western wall can be heard at a distance of five kilometers of Safita. By a second slope of staircases on the basis of the second stage, one reaches the roof of the tower, from where one sees the snow-covered mountains of Lebanon, the town of Tripoli, the the Mediterranean and the Krak of the Knights.

State

Renovation works were undertaken during the French Mandat in Syria (1920 - 1946), not without causing many nuisances with the alive villager neighborhood.

See too

List of the fortresses Eastern templières

References

, which was used as a basis in this article;
MELVILLE Marion, life of Templiers, Gallimard, 1974
REY Emmanuel-Guillaume, Study on the monuments of the military architecture of crossed in Syria and in the island of Cyprus, Impr. main road, 1871, pp. 85ss.

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