| Mseilha Fort | |
|---|---|
| Native name Arabic: قلعة المسيلحة | |
 The Mseilha fort dominates the Nahr El Jawz valley from atop its rocky spur, as seen here from the south | |
| Location | Batroun, Lebanon |
| Coordinates | 34°16′26″N 35°41′24″E / 34.273804°N 35.690072°E |
| Built | Site occupied since Roman times. Buildings of the present castle date from the 13th to 17th centuries |
| Architectural style(s) | Crusader Fort |
| Governing body | Directorate General of Antiquities[1] |
  Location of Mseilha Fort in Lebanon | |
The Mseilha Fort (Arabic: قلعة المسيلحة, romanized: Qal‘at al-Msaylḥa) is a fortification situated north of the village of Hamat in Lebanon. The current fort was built by Emir Fakhreddine II in the 17th century to guard the route from Tripoli to Beirut.[2][3] The fort is built on a long, narrow limestone rock near the Nahr el-Jawz River. Its walls are constructed with small sandstone blocks quarried from the nearby coast and built onto the edge of the limestone rock. The thickness of the walls ranges from 1.5 to 2 meters (4 to 6.5 feet). The larger limestone blocks are the only remains of an earlier structure probably built for the same defensive reason.
- ^ Lebanese Ministry of Culture. "Ministère de la Culture" (ministerial) (in French). Archived from the original on 2004-11-24. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ Goepp, Maxime. "Puy du Connétable, le (Liban) :: Comté de Tripoli - Forteresses d'Orient". Forteresses d'Orient. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
- ^ Auzias, Dominique; Jean-Paul Labourdette; Guillaume Boudisseau; Christelle Thomas (2008). Le Petit Futé Liban. Petit Futé. p. 333. ISBN 9782746916326.