Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din, the Crusader-era castles on Syria's World Heritage List

Background

Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din form a single World Heritage property of the Syrian Arab Republic, inscribed in 2006 under criteria (ii) and (iv).
UNESCO calls the two castles the most significant examples illustrating the exchange of influences and documenting the evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the Crusades, from the 11th to the 13th centuries.
Crac des Chevaliers was built by the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem between 1142 and 1271, with further construction by the Mamluks in the late 13th century.
Qal'at Salah El-Din, the Fortress of Saladin, retains features of its Byzantine beginnings in the 10th century, Frankish transformations of the late 12th century and Ayyubid fortifications.
The property has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2013.