Learn about the history of the majestic Karak Castle and the historical monuments found in Karak

Weather of Arabia - Whether you are coming to Karak via the Royal Road to the east or via the Dead Sea to the west, as soon as your eyes glimpse the shadows of this fortified town and its majestic citadel, you will realize the greatness of its status, as it played a role in determining the fate of kings and nations for a thousand years.

Karak is an old Crusader fortress, located at an altitude of 900 meters above sea level, fortified within the walls of the old city. Today, the city is home to about 170,000 people and includes a large number of restored Ottoman places dating back to the nineteenth century, from buildings to restaurants, accommodations, etc., but Karak Castle remains its most important and prominent landmark!

Karak Castle

Karak Castle is a dark maze of rocky catacombs and endless corridors. The well-preserved ones are located underground, accessible through a huge door (inquire about this when purchasing your ticket). The castle has a prestige that almost overshadows its beauty, and despite that, it shows us the architectural genius of the Crusader armies at that time.

You can wander around the balconies of the western front wall and admire the breathtaking view, but you must be careful while doing so. On clear days, you can see the Dead Sea all the way to the Mount of Olives at the border of Bethlehem.

Karak Castle Square

Visitors can pass through the castle square outside, where beautiful 19th-century Ottoman buildings that were used for administrative purposes rise and have been redesigned as a tourist center with a restaurant, a handicraft center and other facilities around the central square.

Karak Archeology Museum

The Karak Archeology Museum was established inside the old citadel, which contains antiquities from the Moabite era in the first millennium BC, and after them the Nabataeans, Romans, Byzantines, and Muslims, all the way to the period of the Crusades. The museum opened its doors in 1980.

The main part of the museum consists of a large hall in one of the palace's basements that was used as living rooms for soldiers in the Mamluk era. The museum's exhibits date back to the Stone Age up to the Islamic era and come from the Karak and Tafila regions. One of these sites, Bab al-Dhra`, is famous for its Bronze Age tombs. The museum contains skeletal remains and pottery from the Bab al-Dhra’ tombs, Iron Age II artifacts from the Basira region, glass vessels and inscriptions from the Byzantine era, and Roman and Nabataean artifacts from Rabbah and Qasr.

Islamic Shrine Museum

The museum is located near the shrine in Karak and contains a collection of pieces representing Islamic culture and civilization, including sculptures, ceramic pieces, and coins.

The place of the Prophet Noah

You can visit the shrine of the Prophet Noah in Karak, where his grave is located near the old city. God sent the Prophet Noah to his people to warn them of divine punishment if they continued to worship idols and ordered him to build an ark to protect themselves from the coming flood.