The Fortress of Baghras (Gaston or Gastein)

Turkey, province of Hatay, around 60 km north of Hatay (Antioch).

Controlling in the south the approach of the Belen pass, this fortress was, at the time of the Crusades, of primordial importance for the defence of the Principality of Antioch.
Known then as Gaston or Gastin - from the greco-Roman name Castron; today Baghras -, it passed under Frankish control in the years 1150, where the circumstances of its capture are not precisely known.
It turns out that in 1154, Brothers of the Temple held garrison there, as various chronicles report how a contingent of Templars of Gaston surprised and destroyed the body of the army launched by the Sultan Mas'ûd in the gorge of La Portelle.

About 1170, the castle was taken from the Templars by the Armenian adventurer Mleh, renegade of the Order, passed to the pay of Nur Al-Din.
At his death in 1175, his former "brothers" reoccupied their citadel. Thirteen years later, on September 26th 1188, the sultan Saladin seized the fortress, before dismantling it at the alarming announcement of the imminent arrival of the armies of Frederic Barberousse.

It was the knight Foulques de Bouillon who recovered the citadel on account of his cousin, the Prince Leon II of Armenia (proclaimed king of Armenia in 1198). The latter settled there in 1191 and performed important restaurations.
In spite of ceaseless claims of the Templars and repeated interventions of the Pope, the Armenian sovereign agreed to return Gaston to his rightful owners only in 1216, when it was deemed hardly defensible from the armies of the Baïbars which had just crushed Antioch, thus preferring to give up it after setting it on fire.

The citadel stands upon a rocky peak with sheer faces, especially to the west, so that defenses were rather established on the other faces.
On the east side, through which it was accessed, are two enclosures dominated by an imposing rectangular keep, all built as small compound.
In the court, are the grand hall, with remains of the fortress chapel still well preserved. Between the chapel and the grand hall, one will notice the underground rooms supported by enormous pillars. These rooms added to the numerous main buildings throughout the site, leads one to conclude that the place could maintain an important garrison.
Note also to the south west of the site the presence of a partly preserved aqueduct, which connected the fortress to the mountain where several springs emerged. At the foot of the fortress, lies a small but famous spring known as the Fountain of Gastin...

1. "Forteresses d'Orient - www.orient-latin.com"