Shobak Castle Restoration and Rehabilitation Project

FORMED PROJECT

JORDAN , GREECE , ITALY AND TURKEY

SPONCERED BY EC

Shobak Castle Restoration and Rehabilitation Project

Shobak castle (MontReal) is one of the most important historical sites in southern Jordan. It has been located on the Kings Highway at app.210 km to the south of the capital city Amman. The castle was set upon a narrow, rocky ridge which provided an ideal place for fortified structure to protect the north-south road which passes just a few hundreds meters to the west of it.

Towards the end of the 11th century A.D. The Crusaders occupied Jerusalem and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem. A few years latter this Kingdom extended its dominion into Jordan where a string of castles had been built on the high lands between Kerak and the gulf of Aqaba on the Red sea with the aim of controlling the pilgrimage road between Damascus and Makka in Southern Arabia and putting some pressure on the Muslim forces in Syria and Egypt .

The construction of the Shobak castle was started in 1115 and was completed in 1117. In 1190 the castle was overtaken by the troops of Saladin after his decisive victory on the crusaders in 1189 in Hittin. The castle suffered severe damages by an earthquake of 1292. Repairing works were completed in 1297 by instructions of the Mamluk Sultan Husam al Din Lajeen.

After the fall of the Mamlukes the castle was abandoned until it had been reoccupied by the Ottomans who had controlled the castle till 1916.

In 1995 the Department of Antiquities of Jordan jointly with the Natural Resources Authority of Jordan initiated a restoration project with the aim of consolidating the towers and perimeter walls of the castle.

This castle had been chosen by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan to be as a component of the proposal which will be submitted to European Commission Research Directorate because of its importance not only for the history of Jordan alone but also because it symbolizes the cross cultural exchange of local and European architectural traditions in the 12th century A.D. No restoration work had been done inside the castles and that will give us the opportunity to investigate the problems. The ownership of the castle is now in the hands of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (who is in charge for the excavation, restoration and management of the archaeological sites and historical monuments in Jordan) and there is no need to seek permissions from different governmental authorities to initiate the study and to implement the final recommendations. Moreover Shobak castle is only 30km. from Petra: a World heritage site and the main archaeological and tourist attraction in Jordan .The restoration and the rehabilitation of Shobak will save very important monument and will benefit both local communities in the area and tourists by enriching their visiting experience.

The castle has suffered erosion and decay of its cementing materials. The restoration problems can be summarized as follows:

1-Deterioration of the cementing materials as will as some types of the building stones, which characterized by high absorption and low strength.

2-The change in the drainage system which dissolves the cementing materials and causes a high pore-water pressure on walls. This pressure causes tilting of the walls and failure of some of them.

3-The mechanical damages by earthquakes. The last earthquake was in November 1995 .

4-Wares which had been taken places since the construction of the caste in the 12th century A.D caused some of the damages.

The improper use of the castle during the first half of the 20ht century had caused some damages to the inner parts of the castle.