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62-618: Chtaura is the valley's hub for banking, transportation, and commerce, with many hotels and restaurants on the main road. From Chtaura, travelers can depart for Zahlé , Baalbek , or Damascus. On January 29, 1983, the Israeli-run Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners detonated a car bomb close to the Fatah HQ at Chtaura (also named Shtura), and another in West Beirut, close to

124-476: A muqaddam of the Anti-Lebanon mountain villages al-Jebbeh and Assal al-Ward as early as 1483. Later, Ibn al-Himsi and Ibn Tulun mention one as deputy (na'ib) of Baalbek in 1498. The unnamed Ibn Harfush appears in an Ottoman archival source as early as 1516, when he and several other local notables signed a letter offering their submission to Sultan Selim I , but was executed in 1518 by Janbirdi al-Ghazali as

186-464: A civil airport serving the town and the whole valley. A regional airport could prove vital when the road to Beirut is closed because of heavy snowfall. However, the project froze in the early 2000s, after the runway extension had been initiated. The banks of the Berdawni River have long been a place where people of Zahlé and other parts of Lebanon come to socialize. The town's most popular attraction

248-680: A cloth-maker, grammarian and poet from Karak Nuh , was apparently persecuted for rafd in Damascus and then moved to Iran, where he received an official state post. The Harfushes appear to have been back in control of Baalbek by 1702, when local accounts indicate that a Christian shaykh of ‘Aqura in Mt Lebanon entered emir Husayn’s (Harfush) service as yazıcı , or secretary, on account of his Turkish skills. In 1711, French consular reports suggest, Husayn Harfush gave shelter to Haydar Shihabi and then supplied 2,500 troops to help him wipe out his Druze rivals in

310-431: A population of 386,362 people in the town proper, making it the country's fourth largest. (The locals tend to give figures of 200,000 or 300,000 inhabitants, which, however, are misleading and completely unrealistic.) The urban area includes the neighbouring towns of Saadnayel , Taalabaya , Chtaura and Jdita to the southwest, which have come to form a single urban entity since the late 1990s due to unplanned growth, and

372-589: A rebel. There is no further word on Musa Harfush's eventual participation in the Yemen campaign (which was in fact directed against the forces of the Zaydi Shiite imam), and in later years the Harfushes would be appointed sancak-beğs of Homs and Tadmur rather than of Sidon. If nothing else, his being selected to lead a tribal auxiliary division in return for an official governorship in 1568, more than twenty years before

434-520: A regionally paramount dynasty since early Mamluk times and even served as patrons of local Shiaa shrines and scholars. To the Ottomans they were therefore always leading candidates for local fiscal and political offices, including for the military governorship of the sub-province of Homs, to which they were appointed to partially offset the influence of the increasingly hegemonic Druze emirate. The late Mamluk historian Ibn Tawq identifies an Ibn Harfush as

496-516: A section of a Roman aqueduct). Furthermore, there are several ancient sites of interest in nearby locations: Two more sites worth visiting are a more distant trip away: Zahlé's culture has long revolved around its signature crop, the grape, and its products, wine and arak. Arak, in particular, has traditionally been served in cafés at virtually any time of the day. The city is known as "the City of Wine and Poetry". Zahlé's most important cultural event

558-415: Is a 300-metre (984 ft) promenade along the river, referred to as "Al Wadi" ("the valley"). Sheltered between the ravine's limestone cliffs, it is lined up with large outdoor restaurants, cafes and playrooms, and shaded by trees. These restaurants specialize in traditional Lebanese meze served with arak . The promenade is closed during late fall and winter, when cold winds from the mountain sweep through

620-572: Is a chapel that can seat a little over a hundred people. The top of the tower features sweeping views over Zahlé and the Bekaa Valley. This Ottoman building was constructed in 1850 to serve as the town's Serail . Located just downhill from Our Lady of Zahlé and Bekaa, it is a mix of local and Ottoman architecture, and features an atrium occupied by an inner garden and surrounded by arcades. Though still known as "the Old Serail", it currently serves as

682-571: Is a city in eastern Lebanon, and the capital and largest city of Beqaa Governorate , Lebanon . With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli and the fourth-largest taking the whole urban area (the Jounieh urban area is larger). Zahlé is located 55 km (34 mi) east of the capital Beirut, close to the Beirut- Damascus road, and lies at

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744-424: Is due to be replaced by a new, multimillion-dollar highway as the main international route; however, the completion date is still unclear. Zahlé is also connected to Baalbek (36 km (22 mi) to the northeast) by the trans-Beqaa road, which continues further north towards Homs , Syria. Due to widespread car ownership, public transportation remains underdeveloped. There is a single bus line, which runs on

806-554: Is famous for. Zahlé saw at a time a prosperous commercial activity due to its location midway between Beirut and Damascus. Paradoxically, it regained some of that activity during the civil war, when the growing instability in Beirut led to a decentralization of the economy. Furthermore, taxation was nonexistent due to the collapse of State authority, which Zahlé took advantage of to expand its industrial and commercial sectors. A number of companies and state bodies have their headquarters for

868-460: Is famous throughout Lebanon and the region for its pleasant climate, numerous riverside restaurants and quality arak . Its inhabitants are predominantly Melkite Greek Catholic and are known in Arabic as Zahlawi . The source of the city's name is unclear, some historian relate it to the ancient Roman god of fertility - Zohal. Evidence of Roman presence are the ruins found. Others claim the derives from

930-661: Is home to about 100,000 people. The metropolitan area extends over much of the Zahlé District and additionally comprises: with a total population close to 200,000. Religion in Zahlé, Lebanon Zahlé is one of the largest predominantly Christian town in Lebanon and the Middle East (with Christians once forming around 90% of its total population during the French occupation) and the one with

992-533: Is known for its dryness. It rarely rains in Chtaura in the summer, and there is a lack of humidity. The summers are warm, with temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius. In winter there are an average of 3-4 snowstorms yearly. Chtaura's population has steadily grown since its founding. A century ago, Chtaura had less than two- thousand inhabitants and 70 houses. In the early 20th century, the Ottomans developed Chtaura to be

1054-417: Is larger, but contains considerably fewer trees). The park houses a collection of marble tables with mosaic depictions of several sites in Lebanon, a small pond with waterlilies, a semi-circular marble tholos, and several sculptures representing famous locals. In 2003, the municipality covered a 25 m (82 ft) fir (the park's tallest) with thousands of lights, in an attempt to break the world record for

1116-455: Is the "Festival of the Vine", traditionally held each September, during which concerts, plays, poetry evenings and artistic exhibitions are organized daily over the course of two or three weeks. The final Saturday evening features the crowning of the "Maid of the Vine", the local beauty queen , and the next afternoon, the festival closes with arguably its most popular event: a parade of floats held on

1178-736: The Battle of Ain Dara , and establish himself as sole emir of the Shuf. curiously not addressed in H. A. al-Shihabi or any other chronicles of the period. The Ottoman court historian Raşid (d. 1735) telescopes several important events into his official account (but omits the atrocities committed against the Shiaa villagers). The Hamadas, who were supported by the ʿAwjan as well as the Harfush , were caught in heavy snows while fleeing toward Baalbek. An estimated 150 men perished. Only

1240-541: The Orthodox Ma'luf family of Zahlé (where Mustafa Harfush took refuge some years later) and showing that depredations from various quarters as well as Zahlé's growing commercial attractiveness accounted for Baalbek's decline in the 18th century. What repression there was did not always target the Christian community per se. The Shiite 'Usayran family, for example, is also said to have left Baalbek then to avoid expropriation by

1302-509: The Town Hall . In the past, the ground floor used to house the local prison, which suffered of severe overcrowding and substandard conditions. The prison was transferred in 2009 to a new location in Muallaqa, with room for about 800 inmates and much more adequate infrastructure. This grandiose complex dates back to 1720, and consists of a series of stone-clad buildings around a large inner courtyard:

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1364-551: The 1860's and 1870's the local merchants were prosperous but were still dependent on banks in Beirut for credit for their transactions. On 7 September 1975, during the civil war , the Lebanese Forces militia, at that time led by Elie Hobeika agreed to 100 Syrian soldiers and 20 intelligence officers taking up strategic positions in the town. The current population is not accurately known, since no census has been conducted in Lebanon since 1932, but estimates from 2017 are of

1426-482: The Beirut-Damascus road, which passes to the southwest of the urban area. The journey can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the traffic. Damascus , Syria, is 73 km (45 mi) to the southeast, and is normally reached within one-and-a-half hours, excluding the waiting time at the border. Despite continuously undergoing works and repairs, the Beirut-Damascus road remains in poor condition, and

1488-619: The Bekaa. He captured Mustafa Pasha and defeated the Harfush's Emir. Bekaa Valley before and after the battle of ‘Anjar can be obtained from a recently published register of iltizam appointments for the province of Damascus. Covering the years 1616 to 1635, the register among other things provides documentary evidence of the Harfushes’ growing marginalization as well as of the rise of the Shihabis of Wadi Taym as new contenders for government tax farms in

1550-594: The Beqaa region in Zahlé, including the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce . Zahlé is evolving into a regional center of higher education, after many universities have opened branches there in recent years. Institutes of higher education currently represented in the town include: Zahlé is connected to Beirut (55 kilometres (34 mi) to the west), and from there to all coastal cities, through

1612-889: The Duruze, who had (the Duruze) earlier won the battle in Deir Al Qamar" (The Harfushes stood behind the Christians and defeated the Duruze in the battle field of Zahle'). In 1865 the Ottoman government ordered to send the last Harfush emirs to Edirne in Turkey for exile; later most of them returned to Baalbeck, but others could not and stayed in Istanbul; subsequently Emir Ahmad bin Mohamad bin Soultan El -Harfouche

1674-411: The French withdrawal. The Christian population of Zahlé has the following approximate composition: Only two Muslim families remained inside Zahlé during the civil war: Hindi and Zrein. Zahlé's Muslim minority (around 27% of the population) is concentrated in the neighborhoods of Karak Nuh (where Noah's tomb is allegedly located) and Haoush al-Umara, specifically, in an area named "Hay al-watani", on

1736-619: The Ftuh just to pillage the farmsteads. In the course of an attempt to retrieve some of their animals, Husayn ibn Sirhan, his cousin Hasan Dib and several companions were caught and killed. In late October, when Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi visited Tripoli, Ali Paşa was still out "battling the pertinacious heretics, the Hamada faction". Like the Hamadas, the Harfush emirs were involved on more than one occasion in

1798-584: The HQ of the left-wing Mourabitoun . Some sixty people were killed and hundreds wounded. For almost 30 years, during the civil war, the Syrian Army 's military headquarters for the Beqaa Valley was in Chtaura. On 24 November 1989, following the assassination of President René Moawad , his successor, Elias Hrawi , was elected by a hastily gathered assembly of 53 MPs in the Chtaura's Park Hotel. The area east of Lebanon

1860-466: The Harfushes and established itself as one of the premier commercial households of Sidon and later even served as consuls of Iran . At the end of the 18th century, Zahlé had one thousand inhabitants and two hundred houses. By 1820, Zahlé's population had grown to 5,000. By 1850 it was 7,000 to 8,000 and the town had become the commercial centre for the Beka'a and main depot for the local grain harvest. Some of

1922-482: The Harfushes and the Lebanese Druze Maan family . The Shia notables such as the Harfush emirs of Baalbek and Bekaa Valley were among the most sought-after local intermediaries of the Ottoman state. Later the Hamadas rose to power. They exercised control over multiple tax farms in the rural hinterland of Tripoli in the seventeenth century through complex relationships with both the Ottoman state authorities and

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1984-531: The Harfushes had retaken control of the Bekaa from the Ma‘ns and the mufti was long dead, the village remained formally excluded from their holdings. The register also sheds light on the administrative context of the fitna (strife) between the Harfushes and Ma‘ns in 1623–24. It corroborates local chroniclers’ claims that Fakhr al-Din offered to send the sultan 100,000 gold coins for the Baalbek tax concession, but casts doubt on

2046-504: The Khazins now prevented the wholesale slaughter of the survivors, by disingenuously claiming they had no permission from Maan to leave the province of Tripoli, and directed the imperial forces elsewhere. Still, Ali Paşa was not to be satisfied. A manhunt began for the Hamadas and their confederates, Shiaa or otherwise. Untold villages were torched, women enslaved, and severed heads brought back to Tripoli. In late August, he sent another army into

2108-465: The Ma‘n family received their emiral title, points towards both the possibilities and the limits of Shiite enfranchisement under Ottoman rule: the progressive monetarization of provincial government and the privatization of military power in the later sixteenth century created a context in which non- Sunni tribal leaders constituted viable, even ideal, candidates for local tax and police concessions, accredited by

2170-501: The central avenue at rather irregular times. Interurban transportation is done by minivans, which stop on the Manara roundabout at the town's entrance. Zahlé's railway station was located in Muallaqa, but was abandoned after all rail transport in Lebanon stopped during the civil war. There were plans to convert the nearby Rayak Air Base (located 10 km (6 mi) to the East of Zahlé), into

2232-506: The church itself (which is the oldest part), the seat of the Archbishop (a converted former monastery), and a small chapel housing an icon, which is said to be a reproduction of a portrait of the Virgin Mary by Saint Lucas. It also features a monumental entrance, an underground cemetery, and a 40-metre-high (130 ft) bell tower, atop of which a large marble clock was mounted in 1993. Part of

2294-607: The civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, a new flow of migrants left the town for the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil. In recent years, emigration has continued, with Canada and the United Arab Emirates being the main destinations. Today, an estimated 250,000 people of local descent live abroad, most of them in Colombia and Brazil. Being the main town of the Beqaa Valley , Lebanon's most important agricultural region,

2356-533: The competition of other local forces. As elsewhere in the empire, administrative units such as sancaks , eyalets and tax farms were not precisely delimited but could be reorganized according to the government's needs or the assignee's personal importance. The Ottomans briefly contemplated turning Sidon-Beirut into a beğlerbeğlik under ‘Ali Harfush in 1585; starting in 1590 Fakhr al-Din Ma‘n and his sons held Safad and then Sidon-Beirut for many years as sancak-beğs. The Harfush leader Emir Yunus al-Harfush

2418-510: The complex was destroyed by a bomb attack in April 1987, and rebuilt ever since. The grand Hotel Kadri is a prime example of the traditional stone architecture of Zahlé, both in and out. It has long been used by most officials and dignitaries visiting the town, as its largest and most luxurious hotel. The Ottomans converted it to a hospital during World War I . During the Lebanese Civil War, it

2480-536: The cultural Hub of the Beqaa Valley due to its strategic location, and the population jumped to about 10,000-15,000 people. The population continued to grow throughout the twentieth century, and today the town is home to about 60–80,000 people. The town had a small Armenian community up until the start of the Lebanese Civil War. This Lebanon location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Zahl%C3%A9 Zahlé ( Arabic : زَحْلة )

2542-426: The economy of Zahlé has long been built on agriculture. Grapes are the area's chief product, with vineyards forming a prominent feature of the surrounding landscape. Vines are also individually grown on lattice, on many of the older houses' terraces. A sizable part of the local produce supplies the three wineries present in and around the town, and the numerous distilleries producing arak , the local liquor which Zahlé

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2604-593: The eighteenth century. What repression there was did not always target the Christian community per se. The Shiite ‘Usayran family, for example, is also said to have left Baalbek in this period to avoid expropriation by the Harfushes, establishing itself as one of the premier commercial households of Sidon and later even serving as consuls of Iran. Says a contemporary Christian historian of the siege of Zahle' in 1841: "The harfushes did not credit Zahle' only, but also all Christians in Lebanon. The Christians would have been humiliated if they had lost their battle (Zahle’) against

2666-670: The factors for the expansion included the Egyptian Occupation (1831–41), which lead to the opening of the country to European trade, the Crimean War which had caused grain shortages in Europe and the expansion of silk production in Mount Lebanon. Besides controlling the grain trade , Zahlé became a centre for livestock from the region of Syria and produced leather, woven and dyed goods, trading with Aleppo , Damascus and Beirut . By

2728-521: The first Thursday of June with a large-scale procession, with a torch-lit parade being held on the previous evening. The Corpus Christi celebration dates back to 1825, when the town was spared the ravages of bubonic plague . Zahlé has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ) with continental influences. Zahlé is twinned with: Harfush dynasty The Harfush dynasty (or Harfouche, Harfuch, Harfouch, or most commonly spelled Harfoush dynasty, all varying transcriptions of

2790-596: The junction of Mount Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley , at a mean elevation of 1,000 m. Established in the 18th century by Christians , Zahlé maintains its predominantly Greek Catholic character. The city enjoys convenient accessibility via road and rail, historically leveraging its strategic location as a trade hub. Zahlé is known as the "Bride of the Beqaa" and "the Neighbor of the Gorge" for its geographical location and attractiveness, but also as "the City of Wine and Poetry". It

2852-503: The largest natural Christmas tree. Zahlé in itself offers little archaeological interest; however, the Château Ksara winery is worth a visit for its maze of vaults which dates back to Roman times. The suburb of Karak Nuh also features a curiosity: a 40-metre-long (131 ft) stone structure inside the local mosque, which local tradition believes to be the Tomb of Noah (but is probably

2914-490: The largest number of Catholics . While several Middle Eastern cities (including Damascus , Cairo and Amman ) have larger Christian communities, these do not constitute a majority. In Lebanon, Beirut also has a larger Christian population than Zahlé (in the city proper), but most of this population belongs to the Greek Orthodox confession. Jounieh is also bigger than Zahlé, and was also overwhelmingly Christian before

2976-531: The local non-Shiaa communities. The Harfush and Hamadas both belonged to Shia Islam in Lebanon , the Harfush emirate of the Bekaa Valley and the Hamadas of Mt Lebanon challenged the territorial extension and power of the Druze emirate of the Shuf. Unlike the Druze, the Shia emirs were regularly denounced for their religious identity and persecuted under Ebu's-Suud 's definition of ( Kızılbaş ) heretics. The Harfushes had been

3038-524: The main cemetery of Baalbek and two villages are left in their memory, the Harfouche village and the Mrah el Harfouch village. The name of Yunus al-Harfouche is also engraved on the oldest mosque in the city of Baalbek . Nowadays, in the city it is more frequently referred to as Al Harfouch family instead of Harfouch dynasty. However, in the local families of the bekkaa still hold Al Harfouch to their high standards as

3100-545: The northeastern and southwestern edge of town, respectively. Sixty-two percent of Muslims in the area are Shia , while the remaining 38% are Sunnis . In the past the town also had a Druze minority and even a small Jewish population, most of which, however, emigrated during the Lebanese Civil War . Zahlé has been a land of emigration since the early 20th century, with most people emigrating to South America, mainly Colombia , Venezuela , Brazil and Argentina . During

3162-505: The notion that the governor of Damascus simply ‘paid no heed’ to the offer or ignored the Sublime Porte's orders to instate him. Fakhr al-Din's offer was matched by Yunus, and the iltizam was reconfirmed to his son ‘Ali Harfush by the kadıs of Damascus and Baalbek immediately after the battle of ‘Anjar. There was at least one Imami scholar from the Bekaa by the name of Harfush in the Ottoman period: Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Harfushi (died 1649),

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3224-475: The occasional landslides that take place on deforested hills around the town are probably at the origin of the name. There has been human activity in the area for at least five thousand years. In the 18th century, Zahlé was a small village of some 200 houses. Its relative geographic isolation from the local centres of power in Mount Lebanon and Syria caused the village not to have any significant allies in

3286-404: The ravine. Located on a hilltop to the southwest of Zahlé, this is a 54-metre-high (177 ft) concrete tower, entirely clad in white marble, and topped with a 10-metre-tall (33 ft) bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, the work of an Italian artist. It is by far Zahlé's most prominent structure—visible from most of the city and from several miles around in the central Bekaa Valley. At its base

3348-458: The region to fall back on in case of conflicts or attacks. Zahlé was burned in 1777 and 1791. Tradition holds that many Christians migrated from the Baalbek region in the 18th century to the newer, more secure town of Zahlé on account of the Harfush dynasty 's oppression and rapacity, but more critical studies have questioned that interpretation by pointing out that the dynasty was closely allied to

3410-409: The region. Beginning in 1618, for example, around the time of Fakhr al-Din's return from Tuscany, Yunus Harfush came under pressure to renounce the income normally due to the emin of Baalbek from the village of ‘Aytha, after the mufti of Damascus (a native of ‘Aytha) had petitioned for it to be set aside for himself in the supposed interest of reviving and repopulating the area. Even in later years, after

3472-570: The same Arabic family name حرفوش ) was a dynasty that descended from the Khuza'a tribe , which helped, during the reign of Muhammad , in the conquest of Syria . The Harfush are considered the best-known Shiite group in the history of Ottoman-period Lebanon , when they controlled the Baalbek District and several parts of the Bekaa Valley . Their being Shiaa was a major factor in the rivalry between

3534-662: The selection of church officials and the running of local monasteries. Tradition holds that many Christians quit the Baalbek region in the eighteenth century for the newer, more secure town of Zahle on account of the Harfushes’ oppression and rapacity, but more critical studies have questioned this interpretation, pointing out that the Harfushes were closely allied to the Orthodox Ma‘luf family of Zahle (where Mustafa Harfush took refuge some years later) and showing that depredations from various quarters as well as Zahle's growing commercial attractiveness accounted for Baalbek's decline in

3596-405: The state and integrated into the imperial military administrative hierarchy. Yet their success would also depend on their ability to hold sway locally, to transcend their narrow parochial bases, raise revenues and capitalize on western Syria's changing economic situation. The Harfush emirs were among the first in the region to be co-opted by the Ottoman state, but would in the long run not stand up to

3658-407: The town's main avenue. The other central aspect of the local culture is religious devotion. Zahlé is still a very Catholic and conservative town, and many of its inhabitants display a pride with their religious identity. Prophet Elias (Elijah) is the town's patron saint , whose feast on July 20 is traditionally celebrated with fireworks. Another notable holiday is Corpus-Christi, celebrated on

3720-542: Was in a conflict with the Lebanese Druze lord Fakhr al-Din in the early 1600s because of that conflict Fakhr al-Din decided to pull into the Bekaa valley. The Harfush dynasty wanted to take over the Ma'an family realm during Fakhr al-Din's exile. Yunus had an ally, Mustafa Pasha who was the governor of Damascus . Yunus and Pasha wanted to take the sanjak of Safad from Fakhr al-Din. Fakhr al-din returned from Italy, marched across

3782-444: Was occupied by Syrian troops and sustained enormous damage. An ambitious restoration project in the mid-1990s was able to bring it back to its former glory. The hotel closed in February 2011 due to a conflict between its direction and the Catholic Church (its effective owner since 1999) and reopened later in 2013. Situated across the street from Grand Hotel Kadri, Memshieh is Zahlé's oldest and shadiest park (newly opened J.T.Skaff Park

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3844-431: Was transferred to Cairo . The abrupt disappearance of the Harfush emirate left the Shiite community of Baalbek bereft of any anciently rooted, indigenous social leadership, making it that much more of a likely venue for the rise of foreign-inspired, ideological mass movements such as Communism, Nasirism and the Hizb Allah in Lebanon's tumultuous 20th century. Today, Al Harfouch still own large acres of lands in Baalbek,

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