Beiteddine Palace

Beiteddine Palace spreads across a ridge in the Chouf mountains, a complex of courtyards, arcades and fountains that shows the Lebanese princely architecture of the early 19th century at its most refined. Emir Bashir Shihab II, who ruled Mount Lebanon for half a century, began it in 1788 on the site of a former Druze hermitage and kept building until about 1818. The name means "house of faith". By 1811 Bashir had moved the seat of his emirate here, and a canal was cut to bring water from the Safa River to the palace.

The plan follows the traditional division of a great house. A vast outer courtyard, about 107 by 45 metres, was the public space where visitors and petitioners gathered, flanked by the two-storey guest wing. Beyond it lies the central palace with its reception rooms, and behind that the private family quarters, the harem, with its own courtyard and a bathhouse. The interiors are known for ceilings and panels of carved and painted cedar wood with Arabic calligraphy, marble inlay, mosaics and fountains, and the building also shows clear Italian influence in its details.

After Bashir's fall in 1840 the palace served the Ottoman administration and later the authorities of the French Mandate. It was declared a national monument in 1934 and in 1943 became the official summer residence of the president of Lebanon. Badly damaged during the civil war of 1975–1990, it was restored afterwards and is now partly a museum and the venue for the annual summer Beiteddine Festival. The village of Beiteddine stands at about 860 metres, separated by a steep valley from the neighbouring town of Deir el-Qamar.

Getting there

Beiteddine lies about 45 km southeast of Beirut by road; the town of Aley is about 12 km away in a straight line. The nearest airport is Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport (BEY), about 16 km away in a straight line.