Kadisha Valley (), also

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as the Qadisha Valley and also known as the Kadisha Gorge or Wadi Kadisha (), is a gorge that lies within the Bsharri and

Zgharta Zgharta (, ), also spelled Zghorta, is a city in North Lebanon, with an estimated population of around 50,000. It is the second biggest city in Northern Lebanon after Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli. Zgharta is officially the Zgharta-Ehden municipality ...

Districts of the

North Governorate North Governorate (, ') is one of the governorates of Lebanon and one of the two governorates of North Lebanon. Its capital is Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli. Ramzi Nohra has been its governor since May 2, 2014. The population of North Governorate is ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. The valley was carved by the Kadisha River, also known as the ''Nahr Abu Ali'' when it reaches Tripoli. Kadisha means "Holy" in

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 ...

, and the valley is sometimes called the Holy Valley. It has sheltered

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

monastic Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

communities for many centuries. The valley is located at the foot of Mount al-Makmal in northern Lebanon. The valley is at risk due to the encroachment of human settlement, illegal building, and inconsistent conservation activity. Although it is not on the UNESCO "in danger" list, there have been warnings that continued violations may lead to this step.UNESCO Threatens to Remove Qadisha Valley from World Heritage List
Nahar Net, 20 May 10, 08:03

Geography

The

holy river Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleri ...

, Nahr Qadisha, runs through the valley for 35 km from its source in a cave (grotto) a little way below the Forest of the Cedars of God. The sides of the valley are steep cliffs that contain many caves, often at more than 1,000 m and all difficult of access. The most scenic section of the valley stretches for approximately 20 km between Bsharri (), the hometown of

Kahlil Gibran Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and Visual arts, visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself reject ...

, and Tourza ().

Cedars of God

Kadisha Valley lies west of the Forest of the Cedars of God, (situated on the mountain above), survivors of the ancient Cedars of Lebanon, the most highly prized building materials of the ancient world. The forest is said to contain 375 individual trees, two claimed to be over 3,000 years old, ten over 1,000 years old, and the remainder at least centuries old. The Lebanon Cedar (''Cedrus Libani'') is described in ancient works on botany as the oldest tree in the world. It was admired by the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

, who brought it to their land to build the First and the

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

temples in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Historical sources report that the cedar forests were beginning to disappear at the time of

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

in the 6th century AD.

History

Qadisha Valley's natural caves have been used as shelters and for burials since the

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

period. The Aassi Hauqqa (cave) in particular, near Hawqa, has yielded archaeological items indicating use in the Palaeolithic,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

periods. Since the early days of Christianity the valley has served as a refuge for those in search of solitude. The

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

monks A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

established their new center at Qannubin, in the heart of the Qadisha, and monasteries quickly spread over the surrounding hills. Early Maronite settlement in the valley combined both community and

eremitic A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

life. The

Mameluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

sultans

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...

and Qalaoun led campaigns in 1268 and 1283, respectively, against the fortress-caves, monasteries, and the surrounding villages. Despite these attacks, the Deir Qannubin monastery was to become the seat of the

Maronite Patriarch This is a list of the Maronite patriarchs of Antioch and all the East, the primate of the Maronite Church, one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Starting with Paul Peter Massad in 1854, after becoming patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Patriarcha ...

in the 15th century and remained so for 500 years. In the 17th century, the Maronite monks’ reputation for piety was promoted through the Maronite school founded in Rome in 1584. by dint of this exposure, many European poets, historians, geographers, politicians, and clergy visited and even settled in the Valley. The first printing press in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

was founded in 1585 at the Monastery of Qozhaya in the Kadisha Valley, and in 1610 printed its first book, the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of ...

in the

Syriac language The Syriac language ( ; ), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan (), the Mesopotamian language () and Aramaic (), is an Aramaic#Eastern Middle Aramaic, Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is ...

. It used Syriac characters. Also this printing press was the first to print in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

language

Qadisha mummies

Eight well preserved natural

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

of villagers dating back to around 1283 A.D. were uncovered by Fadi Baroudy, Pierre Abi Aoun, Paul Kahawaja & Antoine Ghaouch, a team of speleologists from th
GERSL
scientific organisation in the Qadisha Valley between 1989 and 1991. These were found in the 'Asi-al Hadath cave along with a wealth of artifacts.

World Heritage Site

In 1998,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

added the valley to the list of

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s because of its importance as the site of some of the earliest Christian monastic settlements in the world, and its continued example of Christian faith.

Christian monasticism

The Kadisha (Holy) Valley is the site of some of the most ancient Christian monastic communities of the

. The valley's natural caves, being comfortless, scattered, and difficult to access, provided monks and hermits sufficiently isolated and inhospitable conditions to live out Christian solitude, contemplation, and devotion. Many of the caves and irregularities in the cliff-sides were adapted to serve as individual dwellings (cells), chapels, and monasteries, and such buildings were further carved out of the cliff faces of the valley. Some have interiors covered with frescoes and facades. Around the caves there are terraced fields made by the hermits for growing grain, grapes, and olives. While there are numerous monasteries in the valley, there are several main monastic complexes:

Qannubin Monastery

The Qannubin Monastery (Deir Qannubin (دير قنوبين)), is on the northeast side of the Qadisha Valley. Although its foundation is often attributed to the Emperor Theodosius the Great in 375AD, it is more likely that it was established by a disciple of St Theodosius the Cenobite. For the most part it is cut into the rock cliff side - monastic cells, church, cloister, and accommodation for travelers. Since the fifteenth century, Qannubin started to be the See of the Maronite Patriarch.

Monastery of St Anthony of Qozhaya

The Monastery of Qozhaya (Deir Mar Antonios Qozhaya (دير مارانطﻮنيوﺱ ﻗﺰحيا)) sits on the opposite flank of the Qadisha from Qannubin Monastery. Tradition has its foundation in the 4th century by St Hilarion, in honour of the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress); () is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, Asceticism , ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorit ...

St Anthony the Great Anthony the Great (; ; ; ; – 17 January 356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as , by various epithets: , , , , , and . For his importance among t ...

, though the earliest documentary records date back only to around 1000 AD. It was destroyed in the 16th century but quickly restored. It comprises a corridor, meeting room, and chapel, with a mill and a number of hermitages cut into the rock nearby. The monastery is also home to the first printing press of the Middle East that was invented in 1610. The book printed was a bilingual

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

in a small folio of 260 pages. The psalms are arranged in two columns, on the right is the text in Syriac and on the left in Arabic, but written in Syriac letters, which is known as Garshuni.

Monastery of Our Lady of Hawqa

Saydet Hawqa is situated at an altitude of 1150m between Qannubin and Qozhaya Monasteries, at the base of an enormous cave. It was founded in the late 13th century by villagers from Hawqa. The hermitage appears to have been located on a wide platform at mid-level, where there is a water reservoir fed by channels. The upper level, only accessible by ladder, is a cave some 47m long, where the wealth of medieval pottery and arrowheads that have been found suggests its use as a refuge. Traces of fortifications have also been found in the Aassi Hauqqa (cave) at 1170m altitude. Archaeological finds show that this cave was in use in

, and

Medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

Monastery of Mar Sarkis

The Monastery of Mar Sarkis, also called Ras Al Nahr, overlooks Ehden, Kfarsghab, Bane and Hadath El Jebbeh. Given its exceptional location overlooking the valley at an altitude of 1500m, the monastery is called ''the Watchful Eye of Qadisha''. It is dedicated to Saints Sarkis and Bakhos (Saints Sergius and Bacchus). The name ''Ras Al Nahr'' means ''the top of the river'' as it is in the vicinity of the Mar Sarkis source, the main contributor to the Qlaynsieh River which joins the Qannubin River in the valley. The first church of Saints Sarkis and Bakhos was built in the mid 8th Century A.D. on the ruins of a Canaanite temple dedicated to a god of agriculture - Dagan. Next to it, another church dedicated to Our Lady was constructed in 1198 A.D. Several buildings were added from 1404 till 1690, when Patriarch Estephan DouaihyPatriarch Estephan Douaihy on Ehden Family Tree website
/ref> restored part of the buildings.

Monastery of Mar Lishaa

Mar Lishaa or St Elisha (دير مار ﺃليشع), mentioned first in the 14th century, is shared by two communities, a Maronite solitary order and the Barefoot

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

order. It consists of three or four small cells, a refectory, and some offices; the communal church includes four chapels cut into the rock-face.

Other monasteries

Other monastic establishments in the Qadisha are the Monastery of Mar Girgis, with the Chapel of Mar Challita, the Monastery of Mar Yuhanna, the Monastery of Mar Abun, with the Hermitage of Mar Sarkis, and the Monastery of Mart Moura, Ehden and others. There is another group of monasteries in the adjoining Hadchit Valley (Ouadi Houlat). They include the hermitage-monastery complexes of Deir es-Salib, Mar Antonios, Mar Semaane, and Mar Assia, along with the isolated chapels of Mar Bohna and Mar Chmouna.

Towns, villages, and monasteries

* In Bsharri District Bsharri, Dimane, Bane, Tourza, Hasroun, Bazaoun, Bqarqacha, Bqaa Kafra, Braissat, Hadchit, Blaouza, Hadath, Monastery of Qannoubine, Monastery of Hawqa * In

Zgharta District Zgharta Alzawieh District () is a district (''qadaa'') of the North Governorate, Lebanon, North Governorate, northern Lebanon. Its capital is the city of Zgharta. Geography The administrative center is the city of Zgharta. The district has 101 p ...

Arbet Qozhaya, Ehden, Kfarsghab, Hawqa, Aintourine, Sereel, El Fradiss,

Mazraat En Nahr Mazraat En Nahr (), also spelled Mazret Al Nahr, Mazraat El Nahr or Mazraat Al Nahr, is a village located on the border line of the Zgharta District and the Bsharri District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. Situated in the Valley of Qadisha, ...

, Beit Balais, Monastery of Qozhaya, Monastery of Mar Sarkis Ras Al Nahr