Because of its strategic location, the town was chosen by the Crusaders to serve as the building site for an impressive citadel, complete with a surrounding moat and built at Safed’s highest point. The Crusaders ruled the country from 1099-1291 and erected a citadel in Safed, which, like many other Crusader buildings, fell under the control of Muslim conqueror Saladin in the late 1100’s. Undaunted, the Crusaders came back fifty years later to build the largest Christian fortress in the East.
