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The road to
Beiteddine leaves the coastal highway 17 kilometers beyond
Beirut, just a few kilometers after the town of Damour. From
there it climbs quickly along the beautiful Damour river
valley for 26 kilometers to an elevation of 850 meters at
Beiteddine. The most spectacular view of the palace and its
surroundings is from the village of Deir El Qamar (Monastery
of the moon), five kilometers before Beiteddine.
The Beiteddine palace complex, Lebanon's best example of
early 19th century Lebanese architecture, was built over a
thirty year period by Emir Bechir El Chehab II, who ruled
Mount-Lebanon for more than half
a century.
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Dar El-Kataba
facade |
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Beiteddine
- Surrounded by history
In the Middle Ages Lebanon was divided up into fiefs
governed by emirs or hereditary sheikhs. But in theearly
years of the 17th century, Emir Fakhr Ed Dine II Maan (d.
1635) succeeded in extending his power throughout these
princedoms and eventually ruled an area corresponding to
present-day Lebanon.
His first capital was at Baaqline but because of a chronic
water shortage, he was forced to move to Deir El Qamar where
there were copious springs.
When the Maan dynasty died out at the end of the 17th
century, the land was inherited by the emirs of the Chehab
family. It was Emir Bechir Chehab II who decided to leave
Deir El Qamar and to construct his own palace at Beiteddine
(House of faith), a druze hermitage which today is part of
the palace.
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Mosaics of Colored Marble |
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In 1812, Emir
Bechir obliged each of his able-bodied males subjects to
provide two days of unpaid labor in order to ensure a
plentiful supply of water at his new seat of government.
Within two years the project was completed.
The palace remained the emir's residence until his forced
exile in 1840. After the Ottomans suppressed the emirate in
1842 the building was used by the Ottoman authorities as the
government residence. Later, under the French Mandate
following World War I, it was used for local administrative
purposes.
The General Directorate of Antiquities carefully
restored Beiteddine to its original grandeur after it was
declared a historic monument in 1934. Beginning in 1943, the
year of Lebanon's independence, the palace became the summer
residence of the president. Bechara El Khoury was the first
president to use Beiteddine and he brought back the remains
of Emir Bechir from Istanbul, where he had died in 1850.
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General
View of the Palace |
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Today
Beiteddine, with its museums and its gardens, is one of
Lebanon's major tourist attractions. Qualified guides are
available for your tour through this monument, which is open
daily. A visit to Beiteddine is ideally combined with nearby
Deir Al Qamar. |
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Visiting
the Palace: |
Dar El
Baraniyyeh, The outer section of the Palace.
On the approach to the palace a large parking area
offers some of the best views of the buildings and
grounds. The main entrance leads to a 107x45 meter
courtyard, Al-Midan, where horsemen, courtiers and
visitors used to meet for various gatherings. From here,
too, the Emir would leave with his retinue in solemn
procession, either for war or for the hunt. On the
ground floor is a museum, inaugurated on May 1, 1991.
Through photographs, documents and manuscripts, it tells
the life story of Kamal Jumblatt, member of Parliament,
cabinet minister and Druze leader.
Along the right side of this court is a two-story wing,
Al-Madafa, which was once used for receiving guests. it
was the custom that anyone of rank would keep open house
for passerby and that a visitor would not be asked for
his identity or the purpose of his journey until he had
been there for three days.
A staircase leads to the upper floor, which was entirely
restored in 1945 using old documents as a guide. Before
the recent war in Lebanon this wing housed an important
museum of the feudal period. today it is the location of
the Rashid Karami Archeological and Ethnographic Museum.
The large collection includes pottery from the Bronze
and Iron Ages, Roman glass, gold jewelry, lead
sarcophagi and glazed pottery from the Islamic period.
In the first room on this floor is a complete model of
Beiteddine, which will help the visitor visualize the
size and configuration of the buildings. More rooms,
devoted to ethnographic subjects, contain a collection
of ancient and modern weapons, as well as costumes of
the feudal period. |
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Courtyard of Dar El Wousta |
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Dar El
Wousta, the middle section
of the Palace.
The entrance to the central section of the palace is
from a double stairway at the far western end of the
courtyard, where a bust
of Kamal Jumblatt stands. From this point on, the
impressive but austere appearance of the outside court
and buildings gives way to the delightful architecture
and greenery that has given Beiteddine its nickname of
Lebanon's Alhambra. |
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From the main
entrance of this wing a vaulted passage at the top of the
double staircase turns to the right, towards the apartments
of the Hamade Sheikhs of the
Shouf who were responsible for the protection of the Palace.
A turn to the left brings you to the offices of the Emir's
Ministers. The wing opens out onto an elegant courtyard
whose fountains accent the graceful arcades on three sides
of the court is completely open in order to provide full
enjoyment of the countryside. |
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The luxurious
rooms along this court, the corners of which are occupied by
wooden balconies or kiosks called comandaloune, are richly
decorated with mosaics and marquetry and fitted with the
best of traditional oriental furnishings. These rooms served
as offices and receptions salons for the emir's minister,
secretaries and members of his court. One of the rooms is
attributed to the emir's Minister, Boutros Karami. |
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The walls and
ceilings are covered in intricately carved and painted wood,
embellished with Arab calligraphy. The marble fountains and
panels were ingeniously designed to cool the surroundings in
summer, while brass braziers stood ready to warm the chilly
stone interiors in winter. the northern side of this court,
Dar Al Kataba, served as offices for the secretaries. |
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Dar El
Harim, the private apartments
At the far end of this courtyard rises the Dar El Harim,
composed of a large and richly decorated façade, the Upper
Harem, the reception room or salamlik, the Lower Harem, the
kitchens and the baths.
The monumental archway opens on the left to the reception
wing, which is made up of a waiting room and a hall. These
are by far the most ornate room in the palace.
The waiting room has a single column supporting the vault
and is known as "the room of the column". The reception hall
itself, or salamlik, is built on two levels, the first
notable for a fine mosaic floor and walls covered with
carved marble, sculptures and inscriptions. One of these
inscriptions reads:" The homage of a governor towards God is
to observe justice, for more than a thousand months of
prayer."
Emir Bechir sat on the raised platform at the bay end of the
room, smoking his long pipe or narguileh, as he
dispensed justice with dignity and absolute power. Here the
emir held court and carried out the business of his emirate.
On the right of the entry door is the Upper Harem, with the
so-called "Lamartine's room" and another important room
called "Mahkamat", or tribunal.
The corridor leads to the Lower Harem with the private
apartments of the emir and his family set around a courtyard
enclosed on four sides.
Two liwans on the sides of this court allowed the family
members to enjoy the fresh air.
On the angle of the Upper and the Lower Harems are the
kitchens where servants prepared the daily meals for more
than 500 people. The food was taken from there to the
reception and living areas where it was placed on trays set
in front of the divans of the notables and their visitors.
From the balconies of the Dar El Harim, which look out
across a vast terraced valley, can be seen the most
spectacular view of the palace's surroundings. |
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Cold
Room in Hammam |
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Hammam, or Baths
At the northern edge of the Dar El Harim section is the
"hammam", one of the most beautiful in the Arab world.
Following a tradition dating to Roman times, these baths
comprise a cold room or frigidarium, used for undressing
and for relaxation before and after the bath. In this
reception room one could discuss politics or literature
or listen to the latest rumors. The second section of
the baths comprise the lukewarm room, or the tepidarium.
This was used for massages and served as a transition
between the cold and warm sections. The third part
comprised the warm rooms or caldarium. The paving stones
of the baths were supported by brick pillars
and
vault with heated air passing underneath.
Beyond the baths is the tree-shaded tomb of Sitt Chams,
the first wife of the emir. |
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She is buried
in a domed tomb surrounded by cypress trees in the corner of
the gardens. When the ashes of the emir were brought back
from Istanbul in 1947 they were placed in the same
sepulcher. |
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The Stables
and the Mosaic Exhibition
Dar El Wousta and Dar El Harim are built over a series
of recently and beautifully restored vaulted stables that
used to accommodate 600 horses and their riders, as well as
the 500 foot-soldiers of the emir's guard. Today these
stables hold an extensive collection of Byzantine mosaics.
The largest of them come from the ruins of a Byzantine
church in the coastal city of Jiyyeh, south of Beirut. the
Greek inscriptions appearing on the mosaics date them to the
5th and 6th centuries A.D. Mosaics from other sites are
displayed in these stables and the adjacent gardens.
Near the mosaic museum is the hermitage, or Khalwa, a place
of religious seclusion for the Druze. This large room in
existence long before Emir Bechir built the palace, has been
restored and is open to visitors. |
Palace
of Emir Amine
A palace was built for each of the emir's three
sons, Qassim, Khalil and Amine. The palace
of Emir Qassim, now in ruins, is perched on a promontory
facing the great Palace. Today Emir Khalil's palace is
used as the Serail of Beiteddine, the seat of local
administration.
As for the palace of Emir Amine, which dominates the
Beiteddine complex, it was beautifully restored and
converted into a luxury hotel by the Ministry of
Tourism.
Now called the Mir Amine Palace, most of the hotel's 24
rooms open onto private terraces and a hanging garden. |
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Palace
of Emir Amine |
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Within walking
distance from Mir Amine Palace is the summer residence of
the Maronite Archbishop of Sidon, formerly Emir Bechir's
country house. Some of the original architectural elements
remain, including a beautiful stone doorway covered with a
pagoda-shaped roof. This elegant doorway is reached by a
high circular staircase easily visible from a distance. |
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