Exploring Lebanon's: Journey to Beiteddine, Deir ElQamar & Cedars

Beiteddine Palace or ‘House of Faith’ is a 19th-century palace in Beiteddine, Lebanon. It hosts the annual Beiteddine Festival and the Beiteddine Palace Museum. Emir Bashir Chehab II, who later became the ruler of the Mount Lebanon Emirate, built the palace between 1788 and 1818. After 1840, the palace was used by the Ottomans as a government building. During the French Mandate it served as a local administrative office. In 1943, the palace was declared the president's official summer residence. During the Lebanese Civil War it was heavily damaged. Parts of the palace are today open to the public while the rest is still the president's summer residence.

Deir el Qamar

Deir al-Qamar, meaning "Monastery of the Moon" is a village located south-east of Beirut and five kilometres outside of Beiteddine palace in the Chouf District of the Mount Lebanon. Deir El Qamar was the first village in Lebanon to have a municipality in 1864, and it is the birthplace of many well known personalities, such as artists, writers, and politicians. People from all religious backgrounds lived there and the town had a mosque, synagogue and Christian churches. In the year 1860, Deir al-Qamar was destroyed during the civil war between Druze and Christians during which the town was set ablaze. Napoleon III sent a French contingent to rebuild it, recalling France ancient role as protector of the Christians in the Ottoman Empire as established by a treaty in 1523. In 1864, Deir el-Qamar elected the first municipality in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The village retains a remarkable picturesque appearance with typical stone houses with red tile roofs.

Fakhreddine's Mosque

Fakhreddine Mosque with its octagonal minaret is a mosque in Deir el Qamar, Lebanon. Built in 1493 and restored in the sixteenth century by Fakhreddine 1st, it is the oldest mosque in Mount Lebanon.