The Nimrod Fortress, Arabic: Qala’at al-Subeiba or Qala’at Namrud, “Castle of the Large Cliff”, is a medieval fortress situated in the northern Golan Heights, on a ridge rising about 800 m above sea level.
The fortress was built around 1229 by Al-Aziz Uthman, to preempt an attack on Damascus by participants of the Sixth Crusade.The fortress was further expanded to contain the whole ridge by 1230, and Baibars strengthened it and added larger towers after 1260. The fortress was given to Baibars’s second-in- command, Bilik. The new governor started the broad construction activities. When the construction was finished, Bilik memorialized his work and glorified the name of sultan in a 1275 inscription.
At the end of the 13th century, following the Muslim conquest of the port city of Akko (Acre) and the end of Crusader rule in the Holy Land, the fortress lost strategic value and fell into disrepair.
The Ottoman Turks conquered the land in 1517 and used the fortress as a luxury prison for Ottoman nobles who had been exiled to Palestine. The fortress was abandoned later in the 16th century and local shepherds and their flocks were the sole guests within its walls.
The fortress was ruined by an earthquake in the 18th century.
Western Gate
Secret tunnel
Sabil
Water cistern
Inscription
Baybars Royal symbol
