The Crusades, the Genoese and the Latin East - DSpace at ...

multos sudores sepius perdiderunt et expensas, qui tarnen omnem munitionem ipsius
ciuitatis destruxerunt [my emphasis]. 428
A map drawn by Ernest Renan from 1864 shows the remains of Gibelet. Most of these
remains are dated to the crusader period, but the walls are from the Mameluke and Ottoman
periods (Figure 6) 429 According to Enlart, there is clear evidence that Gibelet was repaired and
partly rebuilt several times. In particular, the cathedral had to be reconstructed as a result of the
damaged caused by the earthquake and the enemy's invasion.
Cette ancienne cathedrale, dediee ä saint Jean-Baptiste et desservie actuellement par les
Moines de Saint-Maroun du Liban, peut avoir ete commencee vers 1115 et lentement
construit, restauree apres les desastres du tremblement de terre de 1170 et des invasions
de 1188,1190 et 1266, puis, plus recemment, ä diverses reprises. 43°
Interestingly, Enlart classifies the architecture of the church as French (central and
southern France). This stands out in contrast to the baptistery, which according to Enlart bears
evidence of local and Italian influences (Figure 9): `Le style est une interpretation locale de fart
roman et pourrait proceder d'une influence italienne, ce qui n'etonnerait guere dans une ville qui
fait domaine Genois. '43`
Figure 9: Gibelet -a photo of the baptistery by the cathedral church of St John the
Baptist, taken by Galen Frysinger, 19 April 2000 432
Enlart wrote about the baptistery that `cette riche architecture est sensiblement posterieur
as3
A celle de 1'eglise. ' In his opinion, it was costructed around 1200 Folda wrote that the church is
428 Wilbrand of Oldenburg, Peregrinatio, in Johann C. M. Laurent (ed. ), Peregrinatores medii aevi quatour
(Leipzig, 1864), p. 167.
429 Nina Jidejian, Byblos through the Ages, with a Forward by Maurice Dunand (Beirut, 1969), p. 147.
430 Enlart, text, vol. 2, p. 118.
43' Ibid, p. 123.
432 www. galenfrysinger. com/bybios. htm
123