Tartus Old City and Crusader Cathedral
Explore Tartus old city where one of the best-preserved Crusader cathedrals in the world survives in the heart of the Syrian coastal town, the fortified Crusader port of Tortosa offering a remarkable window into medieval military architecture.
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Crusader Cathedral
Visit the Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa, one of the finest surviving Crusader buildings in the Levant, the 12th century church now serving as an archaeological museum, its massive stone walls and Gothic vaulting remarkably intact after 900 years.
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Crusader Walls
Walk along the surviving Crusader walls of Tartus where the medieval fortifications of the Knights Hospitaller still define the boundary of the old city, the defensive circuit of this important Crusader port visible in the stonework of the ancient walls.
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Old City Streets
Walk the narrow streets of the Tartus old city within the Crusader walls where traditional Syrian houses have been built into and around the medieval fortifications, the living neighborhood occupying the space of the ancient Crusader town.
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Archaeological Museum
Visit the Tartus Archaeological Museum housed in the Crusader cathedral, the collection of ancient objects from the coastal region spanning the Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods providing the context of this coastal city long history.
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Old Harbor
See the old harbor of Tartus where the fishing boats and coastal trade maintain the maritime tradition of a port that has served as the main northern Syrian Mediterranean anchorage since the Crusader period, the harbor position explaining why the Hospitallers fortified this site.
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Ruad Island
See Arwad Island (ancient Ruad) from the Tartus waterfront, the tiny island just 3 kilometers offshore that was the last Crusader position in the Holy Land, the Knights Templar holding out on the island until 1303 after the fall of the mainland.