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Just off the King's Highway 190 km south of Amman and
less than an hour north of Petra stands an impressive
castle as a lonely reminder of former Crusader glory
dating from the same turbulent period as Kerak, crowning
a cone of rock, which rises above a wild and rugged
landscape dotted with a grand sweep of fruit trees
below.
It is today known as Shobak, but to the Crusaders it was
Mont Real (Crak de Montreal) or Mons Regalis, the
Fortress of the Royal Mount. It was built in 1115 by
King Baldwin I of Jerusalem to guard the road from
Damascus to Egypt, and was the first of a string of
similar strongholds in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Salahuddin Al-Ayyoubi (Saladin) attacked it on several
 occasions, finally capturing it in 1189 (only 75 years
after it was raised) when the Crusaders were losing
their foothold throughout the Holy Land. Inscriptions by
Saladin's proud successors appear on the castle wall. In
1260, it passed to the Mamluks whom restored it in the
following century, adorning its walls and towers with
Arabic inscriptions which testify to their work. Since
then it has lain largely untouched, gradually falling
into greater disrepair.
The castle's exterior is impressive, with a forbidding
gate and encircling walls three layers thick. The walls
and projecting towers are still reasonably intact, but
inside the castle consists mainly of tumbled stones with
a few walls and arches. One of the most fascinating
remains is the ancient well-shaft cut deep into the
rock, with 375 steps leading down to the water supply at
the bottom.
The castle is perched on top of a small hill northeast
of the town of Shobak. Inside the fortress there are two
churches, the first of which is to the left of the
entrance and up the stairs. There are ruins of baths,
cisterns and rainwater pipes, in addition to millstones
for pressing olives, a few archways and other works
which have stood the test of time. |
