Acre is a historic walled port-city with continuous settlement from the Phoenician period. It has a rich multi-layered history and geographically it occupies an important location, as it sits on the coast of the Mediterranean, traditionally linking the waterways and commercial activity with the Levant. The present city is characteristic of a fortified town dating from the Ottoman 18th and 19th centuries, with typical urban components such as the citadel, mosques, khans and baths. The remains of the crusader town, dating from 1104 to 1291, lie almost intact, both above and below today's street level, providing an exceptional picture of the layout and structures of the capital of the medieval crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 2001 the old city of Acre was declared a UNESCO protected site. Nowadays, the population of Acre is around 50,000 people and it’s a mixed city that includes Jews, Muslims, Christians and Bahá'í.