The Citadel of Salah Ed-Din is a castle in Syria, named after the great Molem leader known in the West as Saladin. There had been a fortress here in ancient timesand the crusader fortress is just one in a succession of military buildings on this side. It is a concentric castle built on spur which provides natural defences. Along with Krak it is aWorld Heritage Site.
The Arabs, the Byzantines, and the Crusaders fought to control this castle. Byzantines fortified it around the year 1000 with 3 walls, 5 meters in thickness. Crusaders later added the eastern moat. With its 24 meters high tower, its small defensive towers, squares, and stables it became invincible. Near the Byzantine fortifications are the remains of an old church used by the Byzantines, and later by the Crusaders.
The castle, built in Limestone, is located around 30 km east of Latakia, in high mountainous terrain, on a ridge between two deep ravines and surrounded by forest.
The Phoenicians and the Greeks called it "Sigon." In the 10th century it was called "Sihon," and during the Crusades it was named "Saon" after Robert of Saon, a prince from Antioch in the 12th century. The castle was renamed in 1957 in honor of Saladin, who liberated it in 1188.
Sahyun was built on a ridge some 700 metres (2,300 ft) long between two deep gorges. It guarded the route between Latakia and the city of Antioch. The spur on which the castle is built is connected to a plateau in the east. The Byzantines defended the site by building a wall across the east side of the ridge. The walls created an irregular enclosure and were studded with flanking towers. Adjacent to the fortification, at the eastern end of the ridge was a settlement. One of the most magnificent features of the fortress is the 28 m deep ditch, which was cut into living rock. The creation of the ditch has been attributed to the Byzantines. This ditch, which runs 156 meters along the east side, is 14 to 20 meters wide and has a lonely 28 m high needle to support the drawbridge.
The entrance to the castle is through an entrance on the south side of the fortress. On the right of the entrance is a tower, a bastion built by the Crusaders. There is another a few meters further. There is a cistern for water storage and some stables just next to a massive keep that overlooks the ditch. This keep has walls of 5 m thick and it covers an area of nearly 24 m2. Further on to the north is the gate where the drawbridge used to be. Also evident are the Byzantine citadel, located at the center of the fortress, another large cistern, the Crusader tea house, and a Crusader church adjoining one of two Byzantine chapels. As for the Arab additions to the fortress, they include a mosque, which dates back to Qalawun's reign, and a palace, which includes baths with courtyards and iwans. This has been slightly restored.