Faitroun (; also spelled ''Faytroun'') is a town in the

Keserwan District Keserwan District (, transliteration: ''Qaḍā' Kisrawān'') is a district (''qadaa'') in Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon, to the northeast of Lebanon's capital Beirut. The capital, Jounieh, is overwhelmingly Maronite Christian. The area ...

Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate Keserwan-Jbeil () is the most recently created governorate of Lebanon. It consists of the districts of Jbeil and Keserwan. Keserwan-Jbeil covers an area of and is bounded by the North Governorate to the north, the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate to ...

. Located 33 kilometers north of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and at an average altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level and its total land area of 743

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

s. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Maronite Christian Lebanese Maronite Christians (; ) refers to Lebanese people who are members of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, the largest Christian body in the country. The Lebanese Maronite population is concentrated mainly in Mount Lebanon and East Beir ...

s. Faitroun has a public school, which had 229 students as of 2008. The town is home to a number of hotels and restaurants. The name of the town is a derivative of the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

words meaning "throne of the lord". Some of the main attractions in the town are the Church of

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

, which was built in the 18th century and the ancient citadel with wells.

History

According to the 17th-century historian and Maronite patriarch

Istifan al-Duwayhi Istifan al-Duwayhi or Estephan El Douaihy ( / ALA-LC: ''Isṭifānūs al-thānī Buṭrus al-Duwayhī''; ; ; ; 2 August 1630 – 3 May 1704) was the 57th Patriarch of the Maronite Church, serving from 1670 until his death. He was born in Ehden, L ...

, Faitroun was settled by

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

s from the Beqaa Valley in the 16th century. Ottoman tax records indicate the village had 23 Muslim households, two bachelors and one imam in 1523, 42 Muslim households, eight bachelors and no imams in 1530, and 43 Muslim households in 1543. In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

noted ''Feitirun'' as a village located in "''Aklim el-Kesrawan'', Northeast of Beirut; the chief seat of the Maronites".Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p
193
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Notable people

Camille Cordahi Camille Rouhana Cordahi (; 11 September 1919 – 11 May 2011) was a Lebanese footballer who played as a forward. He is the Lebanon national team's first official goalscorer, scoring his side's lone goal in a friendly game against Mandatory Pale ...

(1919–2011), footballer * George Kordahi (born 1950), TV presenter

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Faytroun
localiban {{Keserwan District Populated places in Keserwan District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon