Templar Castles: Château Pèlerin, Palestine

Château Pèlerin, also known as Atlit Castle and Pilgrim Castle, is a Crusader fortress located near Atlit on the northern coast of Israel, about 13 kilometres south of Haifa. The Knights Templar began building the fortress in 1218 during the Fifth Crusade.

Built by the Templar order in 1218, the castle was a Templar stronghold for over seventy years until the order abandoned it in 1291 following the fall of the city of Acre.

Unusually for a Crusader castle, Pèlerin was not demolished after it was seized by the Egyptian Mamluks but was instead left standing and survived relatively intact until a huge earthquake severely damaged the building in 1837. It was then quarried for stone, and now Pèlerin is a shadow of its former self.

Today, this imposing Templar stronghold is closed off from the public as it lies within an Israeli military training area.

The video below shows a 3D model of the castle in reconstructed form:

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