Kfarshima (), also spelled Kfarchima, is a town in the

Baabda District Baabda District (, transliteration: ''Qada' Baabda''), sometimes spelled ''B'abda'', is a district (''qadaa'') of Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, to the south and east of the Lebanon's capital Beirut. The region is also popularly known as "Sou ...

of the

Mount Lebanon Governorate Mount Lebanon Governorate () is one of the nine governorates of Lebanon, of which it is the most populous. Its capital is Baabda. Other notable towns and cities include Aley, Bikfaya, and Beit Mery. This governorate is named after the mount ...

, southeast 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 is part of

Greater Beirut Greater Beirut () is the urban agglomeration comprising the city of Beirut (Beirut Governorate) and the adjacent municipalities over the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It does not constitute a single administrative unit. Greater Beirut geographicall ...

. The town is populated by Lebanese

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

: mainly

Melkite Greek Catholic The Melkite Greek Catholic Church (, ''Kanīsat ar-Rūm al-Malakiyyīn al-Kāṯūlīk''; ; ), also known as the Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catho ...

and

Maronites Maronites (; ) are a 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 resided near Mount ...

, with smaller communities of

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

and Protestant Evangelical Christians. Kfarshima was subject to heavy bombing during the

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

since it was a primary fault line. Kfarshima is the birthplace of the composers musicians and singers, Philemon Wehbi, Halim el-Roumi and

Melhem Barakat Melhem Barakat (‎; 15 August 1945 – 28 October 2016), also known as Melhim Barakat or Abou Majd, was a Lebanese singer, songwriter, and composer. Barakat was a renowned singer in Lebanon and the wider Arab world. He toured Australia, Sout ...

, and the singers Marie Sleiman, and

Majida El Roumi Majida El Roumi Baradhy (; born 13 December 1956) is a Lebanese-Egyptian soprano singer and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Early life Majida El Roumi Al Baradhy was born on 13 December 1956 in Kfarshima. Her father, Halim El Roumi, ...

. Also the Birthplace of the Philosopher

Shibli Shumayyil Shibli Shumayyil (; 1850–1917) was a Lebanese doctor who published on topics such as Islamic socialism and social Darwinism in leading Arabic-language journals of his day. Early life and education Shibli Shumayyil was born in 1850 to a Gree ...

(Chibli Chemayel). It was also the hometown for Lebanese singer

Issam Rajji Issam Rajji () (born 1944 in Kfarshima, died 2001 Lebanon) was a Lebanese singer, lyricist and composer most prominent during the 1970s and 80s. Early life Issam Rajji began his artistic career, working backstage for the television program "Art ...

. In 2023, Amir Hlayyil, ethnographer and poet from Kfarshima, translated in Lebanese the final excerpt from James Joyce's "Ulysses". It was published in 2024 in Göttingen by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage. See: Płonka, Arkadiusz. “Final Excerpt from James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ in Lebanese : Manuscript Presentation and Philological Commentary.” In ''Rosa Damascena : Oriental Languages and Literature Studies'', edited by Barbara Michalak-Pikulska, Arkadiusz Płonka, and Sebastian Gadomski, 211–34. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage, 2024. https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.14220/9783737017336.211

Schools

Eastwood College Eastwood International School is a private international IB World School in Beirut, Lebanon. History Initially called Eastwood College, the school was founded in 1973 by Amine M. Khoury in Kafarshima, Lebanon. During the Lebanese civil war, t ...

*Ecole Saint Maxime *Lycée Adonis *Ecole Notre Dame Des Soeurs Antonine *Kfarshima Official Middle School *Kfarshima Official High School *

National Protestant College The National Protestant College is a Lebanese school that was established by the National Evangelical Union of Lebanon, the oldest indigenous Arabic-speaking Protestant congregation in the Middle East. Originally located in Dbayeh, the building mo ...

Churches

There are seven churches in Kfarchima:
* The

church St. Peter & Paul, in Al-Mahatta. * Three

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 ...

Churches: St. Elias in Balouh, New Lady of the Rosary in Sahet-al-Ain and the Old Lady of the Rosary in Ain-al-Rouhban. * The

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Church in Haret-al-Majjadin. * The St. Takla Church for the Catholics located in Sahet-al-Ain. *The St. Antoine Church (Also called 'Deir Al Karkafi') located in Haret-al-Deir.

Notable residents

* Ilyās Farhāt, poet *

Saleem Takla Saleem Takla (, also spelled Selim Taqla; 1849 – August 8, 1892) was a Lebanese-Ottoman journalist who founded of ''Al-Ahram'' newspaper with his brother Beshara Takla. Early life and education Saleem Takla was born in Kfarshima, Lebanon in 184 ...

, co-founder of

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

* Hanna K. Korany

References

External links

Kfar Chima
{{coord, 33.8172, N, 35.5357, E, source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Greater Beirut Populated places in Baabda District Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon