Kerak Castle is a Crusader spur castle at the southern end of a plateau. Construction began in the 1140s under Pagan the Butler and Fulk, King of Jerusalem, and the infobox gives 1142. The article names no architect and describes a mix of West European, Byzantine and Arab designs, less sophisticated than Krak des Chevaliers. The Crusaders used rough-shaped volcanic stone, and Muslim repairs used nearby limestone. It gives no dimensions.
Saladin besieged it in 1183 and 1184, and the castle surrendered after another siege in 1187 and 1188. The Ayyubids and Mamluks used it as an administrative center, and Baibars enlarged it in 1263. Ibrahim Pasha's siege of 1834 damaged its fortifications, and the Ottomans re-established control in 1893 with a garrison of 1,400.
The Al Karak Archaeology Museum moved outside the castle in 2019, and UNESCO declined World Heritage listing in 1985.
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