Beit ed-Dine ( ar, بيت الدين), also known as Btaddine ( ar, بتدين) is a small town and the administrative capital of the

Chouf District Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf, in ''Jabal ash-Shouf''; french: La Montagne du Chouf) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate (muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east o ...

in the

Mount Lebanon Governorate french: Gouvernorat du Mont-Liban , native_name_lang = , image_map = Administrative divisions of Lebanon 2017-08 (Numbered).png , map_caption = The governorates of Lebanon, including Mount Lebanon (in pink, label ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. The town is located 45 kilometers southeast of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, and near the town of Deir el-Qamar from which it is separated by a steep valley. It had 1,613 registered voters in 2010 and its inhabitants are predominantly Christians from the

Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...

Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...

and

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...

denominations. Beit ed-Dine's total land area consists of 244

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s and its average elevation is 860 meters above sea level. The town is well known for the

Beiteddine Palace Beiteddine Palace ( ar, قصر بيت الدين) is a 19th-century palace in Beiteddine, Lebanon. It hosts the annual Beiteddine Festival and the Beiteddine Palace Museum. History Emir Bashir II of the Shihab dynasty, who later became ...

, which hosts the annual summer

Beiteddine Festival The Beiteddine Festival ( ar, مهرجان بيت الدين) is an annual summer festival that takes place in Beiteddine Palace in Beiteddine, Lebanon. It was launched amidst war and destruction in the middle of the 80's. It came as an act of ...

History

Ottoman era

Emir

Bashir II Emir Bashir Shihab II () (also spelled "Bachir Chehab II"; 2 January 1767–1850) was a Lebanese emir who ruled Ottoman Lebanon in the first half of the 19th century. Born to a branch of the Shihab family which had converted from Sunni Islam, t ...

of the

Shihab dynasty The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...

, who later became the ruler of the Mount Lebanon Emirate, started building the palace in 1788 at the site of the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

hermitage (hence the palace's name, translating as "''House of Faith''"), indicating that the town was initially populated by Druze before Bashir lived in it. Bashir moved the headquarters of the emirate from

Deir al-Qamar Deir al-Qamar ( ar, دَيْر الْقَمَر, lit=Monastery of the moon, translit=Dayr al-qamar), is a city south-east of Beirut in south-central Lebanon. It is located five kilometres outside of Beiteddine in the Chouf District of the Mount Le ...

to Beit ed-Dine by 1811. He ruled from the palace he built, known as the

, which he supplied with water by building a lengthy canal connecting the palace to the Safa River. After 1840, when Emir

was sent into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

the palace was used by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

as a government building. During the

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

its role was preserved and it served as a local administrative office. In 1934, it was declared a national monument. During the

1860 Mount Lebanon civil war The 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus (also called the 1860 Syrian Civil War) was a civil conflict in Mount Lebanon during Ottoman rule in 1860–1861 fought mainly between the local Druze and Christians. Following decisive Druze ...

, around 200 Christians from

fled to the Ottoman barracks at Beit ed-Dine to seek shelter before their town was attacked by Druze fighters. After Deir al-Qamar was plundered by the Druze and its inhabitants massacred, they proceeded to attack the Christians who sought shelter at Beit ed-Dine. The outnumbered Ottoman garrison did not resist and the barracks were assaulted. During the French-led international intervention in the war, the French colonel, d'Arricau, chose Bashir's palace in Beiteddine as his headquarters. In the 1860s, the headquarters of the Ottoman deputy governor in Mount Lebanon was relocated to the Beiteddine Palace. During official celebrations in Beit ed-Dine marking the enthronement of Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

in 1908, Druze and Maronites from the vicinity clashed in the town, resulting in the deaths of one person from each sect. A week later, a delegation of the local, reformist Liberal Party issued a set of demands in Beit ed-Dine calling for reforms such as the abolition of new taxes and the dismissal of corrupt officials. The governor of Beirut Vilayet, Yusuf Pasha, rejected the demands and ordered the demonstrator's dispersal. However, the Ottoman garrison in Beit ed-Dine sympathized with the demonstrators and refused to disperse them. The governor ultimately acceded to the demonstrators' demands.

Modern Era

In 1943, Bechara El Khoury, the first

Lebanese President The President of the Lebanese Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية اللبنانية, rayiys aljumhuriat allubnania; french: Président de la République Libanaise) is the head of state of Lebanon. The president is elected by the parliame ...

, declared it the official president's summer residence. During the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

(1975–1990) it was heavily damaged. After 1984, when fighting in the area receded,

Walid Jumblatt Walid Kamal Jumblatt ( ar, وليد جنبلاط; born 7 August 1949) is a Lebanese Druze politician and former militia commander who has been leading the Progressive Socialist Party since 1977. While leading the Lebanese National Resistance Fr ...

ordered its restoration. Parts of the palace are today open to the public while the rest is still the president's summer residence. Bashir built three more palaces in the town for his sons, till today only Mir Amin Palace survived and is today a luxury hotel. Beiteddine is home to a

Lebanese Red Cross The Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) ( ar, الصليب الأحمر اللبناني, ''al-Ṣalīb al-aḥmar al-lubnānī''; french: Croix-Rouge libanaise) is a humanitarian organization and an auxiliary team to the medical service of the Lebanese Ar ...

First Aid Center.Our Centers

References

Bibliography

External links