Karak Castle & Dana Village
Nothing beats experience. No amount of classroom time in Boston can match putting
students into a place where they can see, hear, touch, smell, taste, or otherwise acquire
first-hand knowledge in the field itself.
In this picture,
students were visiting Karak Castle, originally built as a Crusader castle in
1132 AD/C.E.
The castle fell to Saladin’s army in 1188, after which time it
took on major changes, the basic form of which we still can explore in the 21st
century. Today, we see the
differences between the rough and dark Crusader masonry and the lighter, softer
limestone used by the Muslims, as well as some Ottoman additions from the late
19th Century.
Here, our students climb up to a lookout position in the
upper court. I believe none of
these students had ever explored a Crusader or a Muslim castle until this
visit. They learned from us a bit
about the history of the Crusades and the Muslim responses to that Christian
Holy War originating in Europe.
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Moving on to Dana Village, our Bedouin guide tells us about
efforts to restore the village to its ancient historic beauty, both in terms of
the stone buildings as well as the natural beauty surrounding it. Our guide, Mr. Ahmed, made special note
of the fact that the US government provided $3 million in restoration funding
for the village, which now is near to its goal of self-sustainability through
tourism and trade in organic products.
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