Yehi'am Fortress National Park
| Yehi'am Fortress National Park | |
|---|---|
 Part of the fortress | |
 | |
| Location | Northern District, Israel |
| Nearest city | Yehiam |
| Coordinates | 32°59′39″N 35°13′19″E / 32.9941°N 35.2219°E |
| Official website | |
Yehi'am Fortress National Park is an Israeli national park in western Upper Galilee on the grounds of Kibbutz Yehi'am, whose main attractions are the ruins of a hilltop castle in Jiddin. The castle, ruined in the early 14th century, became a small town known as Khirbat Jiddin; the town was depopulated in 1948.
History
[edit]The structure is based on the Crusader-time Iudyn Castle built by the Teutonic Order after 1220, destroyed by the Mamluk sultan Baibars sometime between 1268 and 1271, rebuilt and expanded by Zahir al-Umar as Qal'at Jiddin (Jiddin Castle) in the 1760s and destroyed again by Ahmed Jezzar Pasha around 1775.[1][2] The ruined fortress, known as Khirbat Jiddin (lit. "ruins of Jiddin"), was later inhabited by Bedouin tribes. The establishment of a kibbutz in 1946 is described on the Kibbutz Yehi'am page.
Today the buildings include a watch tower with a lookout platform, mosque, and large vaulted hall.[3] Trenches from Israel's 1948 War Of independence lay around the castle and can also be visited too.
Archaeological finds in the park but outside the castle precinct include the remains of a Roman fort, a Byzantine monastery, burial caves, stones inscribed with crosses and fragments of mosaic.[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Pringle, Denys (1997). Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521-46010-7.
- ^ Pringle, R. D., A. Petersen, M. Dow and C. Singer (1994). "Qalʿat Jiddin: A castle of the Crusader and Ottoman periods in Galilee". Levant. 26: 135–66. doi:10.1179/007589194790411654.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "www.attractions-in-israel.com/galilee/galilee-national-parks/yehiam-fortress-national-park-%E2%80%93-yehiam-crusader-fortress-protects-settlers-in-1948/". Attractions in Israel. Archived from the original on September 21, 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
- ^ "Help from above – Jerusalem Post". Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
External links
[edit]
| International | |
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| National | |
