Krak de Chevaliers stands on a hill which is high. The hill is at the southern end of the Jabal Ansāriyya mountains, in a position looking over the Homs Gap. Nearby roads carry a trade routes between Antioch and Beirut. The hill has been a fortified place since the 13th century BCE. In 1031 CE, Kurds started to live there in a small castle. In 1110, the Crusaders attacked it took control of the castle. After the Crusaders set up the County of Tripoli, the Knights Hospitaller took control of the castle in 1142. The Knights Hospitaller were the builders of the castle whose ruins remain. The newer castle stands on top of the older 11th-century castle. The oldest buildings there now were built after 1142, when the Knights Hospitaller started to use the place. The first part of the castle to be complete was the centre. At the centre was a building whose shape was an approximation of a triangle. Here are the great hall and kitchens, the chapel, and the granaries, and around these is a thick, strong, masonry wall with towers. When Saladin saw it after his army's victory at the Battle of Hattin, he decided not to attack it.