There’s nothing quite like a good castle. So this week our virtual trip will take us to the most complete Crusader fortress in Israel: Belvoir (Kochav HaYarden) in the Jordan Valley.
With a ‘belvoir’ – fine view – of the Jordan Valley from the Sea of Galilee right down to Beit Shean on one side and to Mount Tabour and Nazareth on the other, the fortress was of great strategic importance.
But in 1189, after an 18 month siege and knowing that the rest of the Crusader kingdom had already fallen, the knights of Belvoir surrendered and the fortress was abandoned. Next to the castle there is a sculpture park featuring works by the Israeli artist Yigal Tumarkin.
All photos taken by Israelinurse
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10 comments
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March 2, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Fabian ben Israel
Thank you for the pictures! The only day we were close to it and decided to visit it it was already closed (It was Friday afternoon).
It is in my to do list.
March 2, 2012 at 3:24 pm
SerJew
Nice pics! (not Picts.
)
March 2, 2012 at 8:06 pm
Makabit
Beautiful pictures. I’ll have to take my husband out there when we make it to Israel. (Most of the really good Crusader sites are in Syria, alas.)
March 3, 2012 at 1:58 am
peterthehungarian
There is a beautiful crusader fortress – the Monfort – in a wildly romantic environment near Ma’alot and Mitzpe Hila (the home of Gilad Shalit).
March 2, 2012 at 9:17 pm
John
And the Israeli film – Belvoir – was great. Did you see it, Israelinurse? (Mind you, I can find no reference to this film on the web so maybe I imagined it! )
March 2, 2012 at 9:25 pm
John
Apologies – senior moment etc – the film I am babbling about was called Beaufort and it was filmed in the Namrud crusader castle….. Castles, they all look the same to me. But thanks for the beautiful photos.
March 3, 2012 at 1:48 am
peterthehungarian
A mistake John. I suppose you are speaking about the Nimrod fortress on the Golan . It is definitely not a crusader castle, it never was under crusader control. According to the tradition (and strongly doubted by the experts) it was the headquarters of the “assassin” sect whose leader the Sheikh al Djebel (the Lord of the Mountains) was the inventor of suicide terrorism.
March 3, 2012 at 5:19 am
Margie in Tel Aviv
Thanks for the pictures Israeli Nurse.
When you stand there and look out over the plain and valley below and the mountains in the distance which all seem so distant & unknown & you think of how far they had come and how foreign the people were to them you can begin to understand the crusaders’ need to build a fortress for their protection
March 3, 2012 at 2:57 pm
concernedofchapletown
Thanks for sharing.
March 5, 2012 at 8:10 am
mostly harmless
Just checking this is not in occupied territory……..nope your fine on this one.