Crusaders built the castle in the 12th century, and the Genoese Embriaco family were Lords of Gibelet from 1100 to the late 13th century. The article names no architect. It is built of local limestone and the remains of Roman structures. The walls form a rough square with corner towers around a central donjon, which combines two castle types and creates two layers of defense. Adrian Boas calls it the finest example of this 12th-century type. A moat surrounds it. The article gives no dimensions.
Saladin captured the town and castle in 1188 and partly dismantled the walls in 1190. Crusaders retook Byblos in 1197 and rebuilt the fortifications. In 1369 the castle repelled an attack by Cypriot ships from Famagusta.
It houses the Byblos site museum, which shows excavation remains and panels on the town's history. The most important finds are in the National Museum of Beirut.
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