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10997 June–15 July 1099 · Jerusalem Old City

First Crusade and the capture of Jerusalem

The plain stone crusader-era Church of St Anne in Jerusalem's Old City
Photo: Chris06, edited by MenkinAlRire. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Answering Pope Urban II's call of 1095, armies from western Europe besieged Fatimid-held Jerusalem for five weeks and stormed it on 15 July 1099, killing much of its Muslim and Jewish population. They founded a Latin kingdom, rebuilt the Holy Sepulchre and built churches such as St Anne's. Saladin retook the city in 1187, but the crusades continued for two centuries.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Church of the Holy SepulchreRomanesque facade and bell tower from the crusader rebuilding, consecrated in 1149.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Church of St AnneAustere crusader church, later a madrasa under Saladin, famous for its acoustics.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Tower of David citadelCitadel by the Jaffa Gate, now a museum of the city's history.Map ↗

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