Raouché Rocks, Beirut

Just off the western tip of Beirut, two great masses of pale limestone rise straight out of the Mediterranean a short distance from the cliffs of the Corniche. The larger of the pair, rising around 70 metres, is pierced right through by a natural arch wide enough for small boats to pass beneath it; its smaller companion has been worn by wind and waves into a sharp, tapering point. Set against the open sea and the city's seafront apartment towers, the Raouché Rocks, also known as Pigeons' Rock, have long been the best-known natural landmark of the Lebanese capital and the image most often used to stand for Beirut itself.

How the rocks came to stand apart from the shore is uncertain. Some geologists have suggested that they were isolated by strong earthquakes that struck the sea off western Beirut in the 13th century, but this remains a hypothesis. The origin of the name is debated too: one explanation links it to an Aramaic word meaning "head", another to the French rocher, "rock", a name that may only have come into use during the French mandate. In Arabic the formation is also called the Rock of Pigeons, and locally it has been nicknamed the Rock of Love. The coast here has a much older human story: flint tools found on the shore near Raouché are among the earliest traces of people in the Beirut area and are kept in the archaeological museum of the American University of Beirut.

The rocks have also served as a stage for the city. Climbers and cliff divers have used them for years, flags and banners have been raised on them at moments of celebration or protest, and in 2015 they were lit with the colours of the Lebanese and French flags in solidarity with Paris. Boat trips circle the rocks and pass through the arch. Raouché, the neighbourhood that gives them their name, is a residential district of cafés and restaurants along the cliff-top Avenue de Paris, part of the long seafront promenade that runs around Ras Beirut.

Getting there

The rocks lie off the Raouché district on the western edge of Beirut, beside the Corniche (Avenue de Paris), about 2 km from the headland of Ras Beirut. Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport (BEY) is about 8 km to the south. The rocks are seen from the cliff-top promenade and by boat.