Yehi'am Fortress National Park is an
Israeli national park in the western
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee ( he, הגליל העליון, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; ar, الجليل الأعلى, ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period. It originally referred to a mounta ...
on the grounds of
Kibbutz Yehi'am, whose main attraction are the ruins of a hilltop
castle.
History
The structure is based on the
Crusader-time Iudyn Castle built by the
Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
after 1220, destroyed by the
Mamluk sultan Baibars sometime between 1268 and 1271, rebuilt and expanded by
Zahir al-Umar
Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar ( ar, ظاهر العمر الزيداني, translit=Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775) was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Pale ...
as Qal'at Jiddin (Jiddin Castle) in the 1760s and destroyed again by
Ahmed Jezzar Pasha around 1775. The ruined fortress, known as
Khirbat Jiddin
Khirbat Jiddin ( ar, خربة جدين, list=ruins of Jiddin), known in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as Judin, was an Ottoman fortress in the western Upper Galilee, originally built by the Teutonic Order after 1220 as a crusader castle, 16 km nor ...
(lit. "ruins of Jiddin"), was later inhabited by Bedouin tribes. The establishment of a kibbutz in 1946 is described on the
Kibbutz Yehi'am page.
The buildings include a watch tower with a lookout platform, mosque, and large vaulted hall.
The 1948 trenches laid around the castle can also be visited.
Archaeological finds in the park but outside the castle precinct include the remains of a Roman fort, a Byzantine monastery, burial caves, stones inscribed with crosses and fragments of mosaic.
See also
*
Tourism in Israel
Tourism in Israel is one of Israel's major sources of income, with a record 4.55 million tourist arrivals in 2019, and, in 2017, contributed NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy making it an all-time record. Israel offers a plethora of historica ...
*
Khirbat Jiddin
Khirbat Jiddin ( ar, خربة جدين, list=ruins of Jiddin), known in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as Judin, was an Ottoman fortress in the western Upper Galilee, originally built by the Teutonic Order after 1220 as a crusader castle, 16 km nor ...
References
External links
Yehi'am Fortress National Park
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National parks of Israel
Protected areas of Northern District (Israel)
Buildings and structures in Northern District (Israel)
13th-century establishments in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Disestablishments in the Kingdom of Jerusalem