Shaizar

Syria, Syria

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Shaizar (also spelled Shayzar or Chizar) is a historic town and medieval fortress in northwestern Syria, in the Hama Governorate, on a hill overlooking the Orontes River about 25 km north of Hama.

It was originally an ancient settlement known as Senzar or Sezar in Egyptian records, Sidzara to the Greeks, and later Larissa under the Seleucids, and it remained under Roman, Byzantine and then Arab control after the 7th century conquests. In 1081 the Banu Munqidh (Munqidhite) dynasty bought the town and its castle, and Shaizar became their semi‑autonomous lordship, situated on the frontier between the Crusader Principality of Antioch and the Muslim realms of Aleppo and Damascus.

During the Crusades, Shaizar was repeatedly besieged by the Byzantines and Crusaders (notably in 1111, 1113 and 1138) but was never captured, and the castle became one of the main strongholds of the Nizari Isma‘ilis (Assassins), who used it as a base for raids before the town was finally taken by Nur al‑Din Zengi in the late 12th century.

The fortress was seriously damaged by the 1157 earthquake and later by raids and Mongol invasions, and the present castle was largely rebuilt and fortified under the later Ayyubid and Mamluk rulers. Today, Shayzar Castle is one of Syria’s most impressive medieval fortresses, with massive high walls, defensive towers and a mix of ancient, Mongol and later Islamic architecture, and it stands as an important site for studying the region’s Crusader and Islamic military history.