Acre, founded originally as Tel Akko (Arabic Tel el Fukhar) a few miles east of the modern city, has existed since the Bronze Age (c 3000 BCE) and over the centuries became a unique blend of cultures and traditions.
This first site was eventually abandoned and a new city called Ptolemais, named after Egyptian king Ptolemy II, grew in its place. There are still traces of this early civilisation visible today.
As the balance of power in the region ebbed and flowed, Acre’s masters changed too. Among those who came to this fascinating city were the Assyrians, the dominant force during the ninth century BCE, the Phoenicians between the sixth and fourth centuries and the Romans who took the city in 63 BCE.
The Crusaders in Acre
The Crusaders who founded the first Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1099 fought hard to take Acre although it was 1104 when the city finally surrendered to King Baldwin I. The strategic importance of Acre was immediately obvious to the Crusaders and work started immediately to build protective fortifications, which included a series of walls and towers.
Battle of the Horns of Hattin
The city subsequently fell to Salah al-Din (Saladin) after the disastrous Battle of the Horns of Hattin in July 1187. However within four years Acre was surrendered to Richard the Lion Heart, King of England and French monarch Philip Augustus, leaders of the Third Crusade.
The Crusader influence in the Holy Land finally ended on 18 May 1291 when Acre fell to the Mamelukes (named after Moslem rulers of Egypt) under sultan al-Ashraf Khlil
UNESCO’s Advisory Body Evaluation (Criterion V) sums up the passing of Crusader influence in Acre concisely. “The Crusader created a new culture in the land which did not seek either to perpetuate its influence on local culture or to absorb local culture. Thus in a moment Crusader Acre ceased to exist as soon as it was captured by the Mamelukes…”
Hospitaller Buildings in Acre
Archaeological excavations carried out in Acre in the 1950s and 1960s revealed a number of well preserved Crusader buildings, courtyards, streets and sewers; the most significant of which was a magnificent building that functioned as the headquarters of the Knights of St John.
The Hospitallers, as the Knights became known, were founded in 1080 as a charitable organisation to provide shelter and medical care for pilgrims.
Fundamentally a benevolent group, formally recognised by the Pope in 1113, they later became involved in military activities although not to the extent of the Templars.
When the archaeologists started work on the Hospitaller building it was packed with earth, a legacy from the Ottoman Turks who wishing to build a palace on the site had simply built on top of the Crusader building.
As a consequence of the Ottoman habit of using Crusader Buildings as foundations for their own construction, students of Acre’s Crusader period now have a wealth of subterranean history to muse over.
Sources:
UNESCO World Heritage: Advisory Body Evaluation, The Old City of Acre, 2001
Wasserman J, Knights Templar, Destiny Books 2006, p 38
Jewish Virtual Library, Akko: The Maritime Capital of the Crusader Kingdom, website accessed 25 May 2010
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