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If you read typical description of Petra today (for example in the National Geographic: www.nationalgeographic.com/tra… ) it will tell you that this marvelous ancient city gradually declined and was abandoned soon after the Islamic conquest, around 600-700 AD., only to be ‘rediscovered’ in 1812, that is more than a thousand years later, by a Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt. One can imagine, how surprised and astounded Johann must have been, when Beduins guided him through desert canyons and when he finally saw the great façade of the ‘treasury’ building carved in the desert cliff! A forgotten city brought back to the public eye!

Such narratives make it hard to imagine that in the medieval period the Petra valley was inhabited, and crusaders regularly travelled through its canyons. Latin settlers and knights must have seen the antique marvels of Petra many times!

Photos 1 and 2: the ancient facade of the 'treasury' building carved in the side of a cliff in a canyon leading to Petra

In the 12th C., the region of Petra was part of the kingdom of Jerusalem and formed the southern part of the lordship of Transjordan. The crusaders built two castles in the area. One is called al-Ḥabīs today and is positioned on a hill directly in the center of the Petra valley. Sergeants guarding its walls could easily see most of the monuments of the ancient city, such as the carved amphitheater, the great temple, baths etc. This fortification included the main, rectangular keep, upper and lower wards as well as a small forecourt. It was a relatively small castle that, as far as we know, did not have its own chapel and it is possible that it was used only as a place of refugee during attack. All the tourists who visit Petra today can see it but barely anyone notices it, because it is not marked as an important site, there is no marked path there and only small fragments of its medieval walls survive. There are some interesting arrow loops and mason marks, but not much more.

Photo 3 and 4: al-Ḥabīs crusader castle - these photos are taken directly from the great temple of the city of Petra. Note the crusader arrow loop (marked with a red arrow) and the surviving vault of the crusader keep /tower.

Plan 1: Al-Habis crusader castle
The second castle is a much larger stronghold called al-Wu’ayra. The crusader name for it was Castellum Vallis Moysis – which is just a Latin version of the name Wadi Musa (Moses’ valley) which is still used today for the nearby town. It occupies a naturally defensible position as its walls enclose a high plateau surrounded by steep desert cliffs. These cliffs are especially high on the eastern side, where the medieval gate is still preserved. The walled plateau housed a sizable community of Latin settlers, both soldiers and civilians. Preserved remains indicate that the castle who had numerous domestic buildings at their disposal as well as their own church with a preserved crypt. Archaeological excavations revealed that the church had its own graveyard where local settlers were buried. Among those buried near the church, archaeologists have identified a grave of a child, which confirms that the castle was home to civilian population – most likely settlers from the West. Below is the plan and a selection of photos showing different parts of the castle.

Plan 2: al-Wu’ayra crusader castle: Castellum Vallis Moysis

Plan 3: plan of the crusader castle chapel in al-Wu'ayra

Photo 5: the fortified gate between two cliffs protecting the crusader castle of al-Wu'ayra - note the surviving castle walls visible above the cliff, in the upper-right corner of the photo.

Photo 6: the western approach to the castle - note the carved stairs and remains of a crusader tower.

Photos 6 and 7: sections of surviving walls protecting the eastern and western sides of the castle Note that the second photo shows a surviving tower (this tower has a preserved guardroom inside it).

Photo 8 and 9 : interior of the guardroom preserved in one of the towers showing a 12th C. crusader arrow loop and a surviving doorway (the doorway is partially blocked by rubble from the upper levels of the tower)

Photo 10: heavily deteriorated fragment of a sculpture showing human face - its dating is uncertain but most likely it dates from the crusader period.

Photo 11: board for a medieval game carved on one of the rocks inside the castle.

Photo 12: Niche in the fortified gate of the castle - most likely a religious statue of a saint was originally positioned inside that niche.

Photo 13 and 14: Remaining fragments of the crusader church inside the castle. First photo shows a surviving fragment of the apse while the second photo shows the southern wall of the church with entrance to the crypt (if you look carefully, you can see the medieval entrance to the crypt).

Photo 15: interior of the crypt below the crusader church inside the castle - note the surviving, 12th C. vault

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the two crusader castles in the Petra region are located fairly close - if you know the path, it takes only about 3-4 hours to walk from one castle to another. Also, the shortest path goes directly through the ancient city of Petra. So, it is easy to imagine, that those who visited these castles (including the kings of Jerusalem, like Baldwin III) as well as Latin settlers who lived there must have walked through the beautiful, mountain canyons of Petra and must have seen, more than once, the marvelous, ancient facades carved in these mountains. In the crusader period, Petra was not forgotten!

Plan 4: Petra valley showing the location of the two crusader castles and of the famous 'Treasury' building visited by millions of tourists from around the world.

Photo 16: Two out of many ancient facades carved in the mountain slopes surrounding the Petra valley - this is the type of view that crusaders in al-Habis had while guarding their walls / towers.

So, this is it - an overview of crusader presence in the Petra region. Writing this and choosing images took few hours so I hope that at least someone here is interested in these type of histories If you are - thank you very much for taking the time to read this - I really appreciate it! Thumbs up! This material is not easily available online and there are good specialists in crusader studies who are not aware of these monuments in Petra. Thank you again for reading and all the best from the Middle-East - stay safe!

:) (Smile) — Description

If you read typical description of Petra today (for example in the National Geographic: www.nationalgeographic.com/tra… ) it will tell you that this marvelous ancient city gradually declined and was abandoned soon after the Islamic conquest, around 600-700 AD., only to be ‘rediscovered’ in 1812, that is more than a thousand years later, by a Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt. One can imagine, how surprised and astounded Johann must have been, when Beduins guided him through desert canyons and when he finally saw the great façade of the ‘treasury’ building carved in the desert cliff! A forgotten city brought back to the public eye!

Such narratives make it hard to imagine that in the medieval period the Petra valley was inhabited, and crusaders regularly travelled through its canyons. Latin settlers and knights must have seen the antique marvels of Petra many times!

Photos 1 and 2: the ancient facade of the 'treasury' building carved in the side of a cliff in a canyon leading to Petra

In the 12th C., the region of Petra was part of the kingdom of Jerusalem and formed the southern part of the lordship of Transjordan. The crusaders built two castles in the area. One is called al-Ḥabīs today and is positioned on a hill directly in the center of the Petra valley. Sergeants guarding its walls could easily see most of the monuments of the ancient city, such as the carved amphitheater, the great temple, baths etc. This fortification included the main, rectangular keep, upper and lower wards as well as a small forecourt. It was a relatively small castle that, as far as we know, did not have its own chapel and it is possible that it was used only as a place of refugee during attack. All the tourists who visit Petra today can see it but barely anyone notices it, because it is not marked as an important site, there is no marked path there and only small fragments of its medieval walls survive. There are some interesting arrow loops and mason marks, but not much more.

Photo 3 and 4: al-Ḥabīs crusader castle - these photos are taken directly from the great temple of the city of Petra. Note the crusader arrow loop (marked with a red arrow) and the surviving vault of the crusader keep /tower.

Plan 1: Al-Habis crusader castle
The second castle is a much larger stronghold called al-Wu’ayra. The crusader name for it was Castellum Vallis Moysis – which is just a Latin version of the name Wadi Musa (Moses’ valley) which is still used today for the nearby town. It occupies a naturally defensible position as its walls enclose a high plateau surrounded by steep desert cliffs. These cliffs are especially high on the eastern side, where the medieval gate is still preserved. The walled plateau housed a sizable community of Latin settlers, both soldiers and civilians. Preserved remains indicate that the castle who had numerous domestic buildings at their disposal as well as their own church with a preserved crypt. Archaeological excavations revealed that the church had its own graveyard where local settlers were buried. Among those buried near the church, archaeologists have identified a grave of a child, which confirms that the castle was home to civilian population – most likely settlers from the West. Below is the plan and a selection of photos showing different parts of the castle.

Plan 2: al-Wu’ayra crusader castle: Castellum Vallis Moysis

Plan 3: plan of the crusader castle chapel in al-Wu'ayra

Photo 5: the fortified gate between two cliffs protecting the crusader castle of al-Wu'ayra - note the surviving castle walls visible above the cliff, in the upper-right corner of the photo.

Photo 6: the western approach to the castle - note the carved stairs and remains of a crusader tower.

Photos 6 and 7: sections of surviving walls protecting the eastern and western sides of the castle Note that the second photo shows a surviving tower (this tower has a preserved guardroom inside it).

Photo 8 and 9 : interior of the guardroom preserved in one of the towers showing a 12th C. crusader arrow loop and a surviving doorway (the doorway is partially blocked by rubble from the upper levels of the tower)

Photo 10: heavily deteriorated fragment of a sculpture showing human face - its dating is uncertain but most likely it dates from the crusader period.

Photo 11: board for a medieval game carved on one of the rocks inside the castle.

Photo 12: Niche in the fortified gate of the castle - most likely a religious statue of a saint was originally positioned inside that niche.

Photo 13 and 14: Remaining fragments of the crusader church inside the castle. First photo shows a surviving fragment of the apse while the second photo shows the southern wall of the church with entrance to the crypt (if you look carefully, you can see the medieval entrance to the crypt).

Photo 15: interior of the crypt below the crusader church inside the castle - note the surviving, 12th C. vault

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the two crusader castles in the Petra region are located fairly close - if you know the path, it takes only about 3-4 hours to walk from one castle to another. Also, the shortest path goes directly through the ancient city of Petra. So, it is easy to imagine, that those who visited these castles (including the kings of Jerusalem, like Baldwin III) as well as Latin settlers who lived there must have walked through the beautiful, mountain canyons of Petra and must have seen, more than once, the marvelous, ancient facades carved in these mountains. In the crusader period, Petra was not forgotten!

Plan 4: Petra valley showing the location of the two crusader castles and of the famous 'Treasury' building visited by millions of tourists from around the world.

Photo 16: Two out of many ancient facades carved in the mountain slopes surrounding the Petra valley - this is the type of view that crusaders in al-Habis had while guarding their walls / towers.

So, this is it - an overview of crusader presence in the Petra region. Writing this and choosing images took few hours so I hope that at least someone here is interested in these type of histories If you are - thank you very much for taking the time to read this - I really appreciate it! Thumbs up! This material is not easily available online and there are good specialists in crusader studies who are not aware of these monuments in Petra. Thank you again for reading and all the best from the Middle-East - stay safe!