Chehabi Citadel

2006 World Monuments Watch

Overlooking the modern village of Hasbaya in south Lebanon, the Chehabi Citadel occupied a strategic location for the armies of the First Crusade, who are believed to have built its original fortifications in the eleventh century. The outpost was also used by the Chehabi emirs, who ousted the Crusaders from the area in the 1170s and rebuilt much of the citadel complex for military and residential use. Expanded and renovated over the course of some eight and a half centuries, the building retains elements of Mamluk and Ottoman architecture and interior decoration. Nearly a millennium of occupation and war, combined with a lack of maintenance and drainage problems, however, have resulted in portions of the building now being in danger of structural failure. A recent conditions assessment revealed that numerous load-bearing walls are under stress and cracking. Some of the interior vaults and ceilings have collapsed or are nearing collapse, and architectural and interior decoration require emergency repairs.