Architecture of Lebanon
Encyclopedia
The architecture
of Lebanon
, or often referred to as the Lebanese
architecture, is a resemblance of the history and culture of Lebanon. The houses are minuscule representations of family heritage and the old buildings are a outlined by the history of different era's the country lived some of which left beauties of art still present till our days while others brought the unexpected.
Architecture in Lebanon is mostly cultural towns and cities in Lebanon hold structures dating back a thousand of years to the dates of the nations earliest human inhabitants.
houses, which changed during time. They started first as being built from randomly collected bricks. These bricks were used to build houses which took the conformation in the shape of a rectangular box. The measurements where small for both the width and the height of the houses. The roofs where always formed from huge rocky segments.
The perception deriving the method of building a house met some changes after the third millennium BC, the walls of the houses increased in height, some were built with stones, others remained rectangular but all increased in dimensions. The exterior and the interior walls where covered sometimes with mud. Lebanese houses, at the beginning of its composition incorporated the rules of the Ottoman Empire
days, leading to the exit of the French mandate
.
Lebanon is known for the having many famous castles built years ago in different eras
. Most of the castles were built of stones, many of them are still standing today but damaged due to repeated number of civil wars
that Lebanon had faced. Lebanon is one of today's most visited countries in the world due to its rich historical sites and its Mediterranean climate favored by many from all around the world.
treasures in Lebanon, as in this city the ancient Roman temples are found. These temples have been built at the end of the third millennium B.C. The city was referred to as the city of the sun (Heliopolis) by the Greek.
The temples have face theft, earthquakes and civil wars and most of it was destroyed, which then lead to the French
, German
and Lebanese archaeologists to interfere and try to rebuild the temples trying to make it look as similar to the original one.
In 1984, Baalbek was reported to be made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
. They have referred to it as being “the finest example of imperial Roman architecture”. They saw how important such structure was to the country and wanted to make it known world wide.^
The Jupiter temple is a six Corinthian columns of the great temple. It is a 22 meters high and is built on a podium. In this Temple, only six columns remain out of the 54 giant columns that originally surrounded the sanctuary.^
The little temple is found near the Jupiter Temple is known as the Temple of Bacchus it was built in the second century A.D. And considered to be the best preserved Roman temple of its size.
's history goes back to more than 5000 years.
The city has a its own unique ambiance with modern buildings alongside arabesque Ottoman
buildings, giving Beirut a distinctive style often not seen in other Middle Eastern cities.
Beirut was also a city of glory during the Roman era. It then became occupied by different civilizations some of which were the Crusaders
in 1109, the Mamluks in 1291 and then Ottomans who stayed in Lebanon for a consecutive 400 years until 1916. The country then went through a period of French mandate until 1943, and during which a touch of the European architecture was introduced.
Today, Roman and Byzantine
structures are found in the city as finger prints of those eras that had passed. Beirut is famous for a group of five columns that were discovered underground in the heart of the city during late 1963. The group on columns were traced back and found to be a small part of a grand colonnade of roman Berytus.
palace complex was built by Amir Bechir El-Chehab II early 19th century. This palace is one of the greatest representations of the authentic Lebanese architecture and how this Lebanese culture started to be imprinted in the architecture.
The palace entrance leading through the gates into an opened space which is a 107 rectangular square-kilometre long and 45 meters wide. This area was originally used in the past for cavalry
practices, and for celebrations, which were attended by the public, visitors and important people of that time. The rooms inside the palace have been changed from their ordinary host accommodating nature to become a museum visited by many everyday, with the exception of keeping original pictures, transcripts and documents as they were before to ensure the history remains alive.
The museum today holds a collection of ancient pottery from different eras. It also contains a collection of Romanian gold jewelery, Islamic glazed wares, and many ethnographic objects of value. This cultural venue also holds a combination of ancient and modern weapons that takes the visitors on a historic expedition.
is know to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world as there is a proof of civilization traced back to at least 5000 years B.C.
The city contains historical ruins like the Castle and the church which were originally built by the Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries AD.
The castle holds a historical story where it has been built, surrendered and regained by Crusaders.
It takes shape of the Crusaders designs on the columns, their wall designs and the entrance structures. The castle has multiple vaults insides indicative of ancients architecture and linking back to its history.
is a one of the very popular historic and touristic destinations in Lebanon.The two main cultural influences on Sidon were the Egyptian Pharaohs and the Greeks. The city is known for the castle of Sidon which is a castle on the sea that was built in 1228 by Crusaders. The castle was built on the remains of a Phoenician shrine dedicated to the God Melkart. This castle's location falls on an island in the Lebanese city of Saida, it is about 80 meters from the beach, linked by bridge building on a rocky nine barrages. The roof is usually used for site seeing providing an exquisite view of the port and the old remains of the city. The city Sidon by itself has become a touristic destination because of its value in the history of the country as a whole and for the beauty of its architecture.
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, or often referred to as the Lebanese
Lebanese
Lebanese may refer to:* A member of the Lebanese people . For more information, see Demographics of Lebanon and Culture of Lebanon. For specific persons, see List of Lebanese people....
architecture, is a resemblance of the history and culture of Lebanon. The houses are minuscule representations of family heritage and the old buildings are a outlined by the history of different era's the country lived some of which left beauties of art still present till our days while others brought the unexpected.
Architecture in Lebanon is mostly cultural towns and cities in Lebanon hold structures dating back a thousand of years to the dates of the nations earliest human inhabitants.
History
The first residential houses in Lebanon were the PhoenicianPhoenician
Phoenician may refer to:*Phoenicia, the ancient civilization*Phoenician alphabet*Phoenician languagePhoenician may also be:*A native or resident of Phoenix, Arizona-See also:*Phoenix *Phoenicia...
houses, which changed during time. They started first as being built from randomly collected bricks. These bricks were used to build houses which took the conformation in the shape of a rectangular box. The measurements where small for both the width and the height of the houses. The roofs where always formed from huge rocky segments.
The perception deriving the method of building a house met some changes after the third millennium BC, the walls of the houses increased in height, some were built with stones, others remained rectangular but all increased in dimensions. The exterior and the interior walls where covered sometimes with mud. Lebanese houses, at the beginning of its composition incorporated the rules of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
days, leading to the exit of the French mandate
French Mandate of Lebanon
The state of Greater Lebanon, the predecessor of modern Lebanon, was created in 1920 as part of the French scheme of dividing the French Mandate of Syria into six states....
.
Lebanon is known for the having many famous castles built years ago in different eras
Eras
Eras is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Albert Boton and Albert Hollenstein , and released by the International Typeface Corporation in 1976. Eras is licensed by the Linotype type foundry....
. Most of the castles were built of stones, many of them are still standing today but damaged due to repeated number of civil wars
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
that Lebanon had faced. Lebanon is one of today's most visited countries in the world due to its rich historical sites and its Mediterranean climate favored by many from all around the world.
Baalbeck
Baalbeck is counted as one of the RomanianRomanian
Romanian refers to something of or relating to Romania, a country in southeastern Europe, the Romanian people, or the Romanian language.Romanian may also refer to:...
treasures in Lebanon, as in this city the ancient Roman temples are found. These temples have been built at the end of the third millennium B.C. The city was referred to as the city of the sun (Heliopolis) by the Greek.
The temples have face theft, earthquakes and civil wars and most of it was destroyed, which then lead to the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
, German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and Lebanese archaeologists to interfere and try to rebuild the temples trying to make it look as similar to the original one.
In 1984, Baalbek was reported to be made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. They have referred to it as being “the finest example of imperial Roman architecture”. They saw how important such structure was to the country and wanted to make it known world wide.^
The Jupiter temple is a six Corinthian columns of the great temple. It is a 22 meters high and is built on a podium. In this Temple, only six columns remain out of the 54 giant columns that originally surrounded the sanctuary.^
The little temple is found near the Jupiter Temple is known as the Temple of Bacchus it was built in the second century A.D. And considered to be the best preserved Roman temple of its size.
Beirut
BeirutBeirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
's history goes back to more than 5000 years.
The city has a its own unique ambiance with modern buildings alongside arabesque Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
buildings, giving Beirut a distinctive style often not seen in other Middle Eastern cities.
Beirut was also a city of glory during the Roman era. It then became occupied by different civilizations some of which were the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
in 1109, the Mamluks in 1291 and then Ottomans who stayed in Lebanon for a consecutive 400 years until 1916. The country then went through a period of French mandate until 1943, and during which a touch of the European architecture was introduced.
Today, Roman and Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
structures are found in the city as finger prints of those eras that had passed. Beirut is famous for a group of five columns that were discovered underground in the heart of the city during late 1963. The group on columns were traced back and found to be a small part of a grand colonnade of roman Berytus.
Beit ed-Din Palace
The Beit ed-DineBeit ed-Dine
Beit ed-Dine is a small Lebanese town in the Chouf District, approx. 50 km southeast of Beirut and near the town of Deir el-Qamar from which it is separated by a steep valley...
palace complex was built by Amir Bechir El-Chehab II early 19th century. This palace is one of the greatest representations of the authentic Lebanese architecture and how this Lebanese culture started to be imprinted in the architecture.
The palace entrance leading through the gates into an opened space which is a 107 rectangular square-kilometre long and 45 meters wide. This area was originally used in the past for cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
practices, and for celebrations, which were attended by the public, visitors and important people of that time. The rooms inside the palace have been changed from their ordinary host accommodating nature to become a museum visited by many everyday, with the exception of keeping original pictures, transcripts and documents as they were before to ensure the history remains alive.
The museum today holds a collection of ancient pottery from different eras. It also contains a collection of Romanian gold jewelery, Islamic glazed wares, and many ethnographic objects of value. This cultural venue also holds a combination of ancient and modern weapons that takes the visitors on a historic expedition.
Temple of the Obelisks
ByblosByblos
Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
is know to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world as there is a proof of civilization traced back to at least 5000 years B.C.
The city contains historical ruins like the Castle and the church which were originally built by the Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries AD.
The castle holds a historical story where it has been built, surrendered and regained by Crusaders.
It takes shape of the Crusaders designs on the columns, their wall designs and the entrance structures. The castle has multiple vaults insides indicative of ancients architecture and linking back to its history.
Sidon
SidonSidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
is a one of the very popular historic and touristic destinations in Lebanon.The two main cultural influences on Sidon were the Egyptian Pharaohs and the Greeks. The city is known for the castle of Sidon which is a castle on the sea that was built in 1228 by Crusaders. The castle was built on the remains of a Phoenician shrine dedicated to the God Melkart. This castle's location falls on an island in the Lebanese city of Saida, it is about 80 meters from the beach, linked by bridge building on a rocky nine barrages. The roof is usually used for site seeing providing an exquisite view of the port and the old remains of the city. The city Sidon by itself has become a touristic destination because of its value in the history of the country as a whole and for the beauty of its architecture.