Walk through Acre's Old City today and you see Ottoman mosques, markets and sea walls. What you do not see is the Crusader city hidden beneath it. When the Ottomans rebuilt Acre in the 18th century, they filled the old Crusader buildings with earth and built on top. Excavations have brought them back into the light.
The heart of it is the Hospitaller Fortress, headquarters of the Knights of St. John. Its massive halls with pointed vaults are some of the finest Crusader architecture anywhere. The highlight is the Refectory, the knights' dining hall, with its early Gothic ribbed vaults - among the earliest Gothic structures in the region. You can also see the columns hall, the courtyard, the latrines and the medieval sewer system.
A short walk away is the Templar Tunnel, discovered in 1994 when a resident tried to fix a blocked drain. About 350 meters long, it ran from the Templars' fortress by the sea to the port area, carved through rock and later lined with vaults.
Acre was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, both for the Crusader remains and for the Ottoman walled town above them. Add the Al-Jazzar Mosque, the Turkish bath (hammam), the fishing port and hummus at a local legend's place, and you have one of the best half days in Israel.
See our Acre Half-Day VIP private tour for the full visit.
Keep reading
- HistoryThe Crusaders in the Holy Land: Castles, Knights and KingdomsFrom the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 to the fall of Acre in 1291 - and the castles they left behind.
- HistoryA Timeline of the Holy Land: From Canaan to Modern IsraelEvery era in one page - the empires, kingdoms and peoples whose layers you see on every tour.
- HistoryUNESCO World Heritage Sites in Israel: The Complete ListMasada, Acre, the White City, the Bahai Gardens and the lesser-known sites worth a detour.