Under one of the chapel arches, a fragment of fresco reminds us that the interior was once painted. Other fragments discovered during works in the 1950s were donated to the Tartus Cathedral museum. They mostly depict the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
The lances, shields and battle harnesses of fallen knights were kept here. Jean de Joinville, who accompanied Saint Louis to the Holy Land, visited the chapel of the Krak des Chevaliers to recover the shield of his uncle Geoffrey V who died in the castle in 1203.
His arms were three golden horse-brays in pale on an Azur background and an ermine chief charged with a demi-lion rampant.
The baptismal chapel at the exterior of the enceinte
In 1935, during restoration work, the architect P. Coupel and his site manager P. Quetard discovered another chapel outisde of the castle, a few steps from the main gateway. Although in ruins, it had a set of frescoes which were removed shortly after it was discovered, and stored in the castle. Paul Deschamps believed the chapel was used by the farming communities who lived around the castle and supplied the garrison with its food.
The monastic liturgy is divided into seven hours
The Rule of Saint Benedict specifies the number of daily prayers: matins (between midnight and daybreak), lauds at dawn (around 6 o’clock), terce (9 o’clock), sext (at noon), nones (3 o’clock), vespers (around 5-6 o’clock), and compline (in the evening before sunset).
