Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Tartous, SANA- About 12 kilometers southeast of Tartous, in the village of Yahmour, al-Hamra Castle is located, one of the ancient Syrian monuments which has a great civilization and cultural heritage.
The history of the castle, according to Director of Tartous Antiquities Department, Marwan Hassan, goes back to the twelfth century A.D, and it is known as the Red Palace after the red sandstones which spread in the area.
In the past, it was named Yaghmour after the Phoenician Prince Yaghmour, Hassan added, indicating that archaeological pieces, fragments, and flint-made two-sided axes dating back to the Assyrian era were found in the castle.
Yahmour Castle consists of an outer wall built of large blocks made of red sandstone, with one main entrance on the southern direction and a side entrance on the northern direction.
Around the wall from the inside, there are roofed porticos containing many archers, in the center of which there is a square-shaped tower with two floors, each floor is a square hall bearing the ceiling.
As for the second floor, it is entered through an external stairway that leads to the ceiling of the eastern portico, and from it a staircase inside a corridor leads to the hall on the second floor, with an octagonal jamb in the middle on which the ceiling arches are based, according to Hassan.
The tower contains many archers and openings designated for guarding work, and in the northwest corner there is a watchtower containing archers, and from it extends a wall composed of several arc openings connected to the front wall of the castle of the same height.
In 2001 a lead-made coffin of a girl was discovered to the southeast of the castle, it has floral and geometric motifs and it dates back to the Roman era. All the findings were preserved in the National Museum in Tartous.
Manar Salameh / Ruaa al-Jazaeri
