Model
Crusader Ships Anchored in Acre Harbour
Part
1
Plan of Acre by
Pietro Vesconte (around 1320)Detail of a reconstructive drawing of the city done by Jonathan Riley-Smith,
published in Der Grosse Bilderatlas der Kreuzzüge, Herder Publishers, Freiburg, 1992.
The approximate part of the modell is marked in red.
Acre was the second city in the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, having been in Frankish hands from 1104 to 1187 and again from 1191 to 1291. The city was the main harbour of the kingdom in the 12th century and its capital in the 13th. It was also the centre of all military orders. Its loss in 1291 marked the end of the Crusader states in the Holy Land. Today it is a small harbour town in North Israel, situated on a promontory north of Haifa. Substantial remains of the city of the Crusaders are preserved underground of today’s old town, but they have only been excavated to a small extent. The city, surrounded by a double wall with towers at regular intervals and moats, was extended to the north in the 13th century (suburb of Montmusard). The city’s core was divided up into districts (Genoese, Venetian, Pisan, Templars, Hospitallers etc.), which were fortified mostly separately. The most important monument preserved is the fortress-like complex of the residence of the Hospitallers to the north, excavated in the last years.
The modell shows a detail of
Acre Harbour from the middle of the 13th century earlier than 1291. Two
scientifically researched and historically documented types of ships are
shown true to detail: A galley, called Tarida, which was built for the
the armada of Karl of Anjon in 1274 equipped for 108 oarsmen. Moreover
there is a nave from 1246, a ship for 450 pilgrims, from the armada of
Ludwig IX, who was known as the Saint.
These construction plans were kindly provided by the naval architect and
technology historian, Dr. Ulrich Alertz, from the Historic Institute of
the University of Technology in Aachen, Germany.
Scale 1:25
Base Area 3 m x
2 m
Approximately 450 hand-crafted Christian figurines of mariners, pilgrims,
knights and dockworkers.
Detail of the reconstructive drawing shown on the left
The approximate part of the modell is marked in red.
Burğ
al-
Galley in the foreground;
Nave in the background
Fotos: Bernhard Siepen; Bilder von Akkon: Dr. Mathias Piana, Augsburg