Zahlé

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Zahlé
Country Lebanon
GovernorateBeqaa Governorate
Government
 • MayorJoseph Diab Al Maalouf
Area
 • City8 km2 (3 sq mi)
 • Metro
90 km2 (30 sq mi)
Highest elevation
1,150 m (3,780 ft)
Lowest elevation
950 m (3,120 ft)
Population
 • City50,000
 • Metro
200,000
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Postcode
1801
Area code8

Zahlé (also transliterated Zahleh; Lebanese Arabic: زحلة  pronounced [ˈzaħle]; Armenian: Զահլէ) is the capital and largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 50,000 inhabitants, it is the third largest city in Lebanon (by city proper population) after Beirut and Tripoli [1][2] and the fourth largest taking the whole urban area (Jounieh urban area being larger) It is situated 55 km (34 mi) east of the capital Beirut, close to the Beirut-Damascus road, and lies at the junction of the Lebanon mountains and the Beqaa plateau, at a mean elevation of 1000m.[3] Zahlé is known as the "Bride of the Beqaa" and "the Neighbor of the Gorge" due to its geographical location and attractiveness, but also as "the City of Wine and Poetry" [4] It is famous throughout Lebanon and the region for its pleasant climate, numerous riverside restaurants and quality arak. Its inhabitants are predominantly Greek Catholic and known as Zahlawis.

Origin of name

The name Zahlé is derived from the Arabic verb زحلة zahhala, which means to slide, to displace. The occasional landslides which take place on the deforested hills around the town are probably at the origin of this name.

History

Zahlé was founded in the early 18th century, in an area whose past reaches back some five millennia. It enjoyed a brief period as the region’s first independent state in the 19th century, when it had its own flag and anthem.

Due to its relative geographic isolation from the local centers of power in Mount Lebanon and Syria, the town did not have any significant allies in the region to fall back on in case of conflicts or attacks. This led its inhabitants to develop a defensive attitude, which can still be felt today.

Zahlé was burned in 1777 and 1791, and it was burned again and plundered in 1860 during a conflict between the Christian population of the town and the Druze of the neighboring areas.

The construction of the railroad line between Beirut and Damascus in 1885 brought prosperity to Zahlé, which became a freight hub on the trade route between Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, while continuing to serve as a regional agricultural center. The town then grew slowly, but steadily, over the following century.

The Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990 brought upheaval to the region. Overall, Zahlé was not affected by the war as much as other regions in the country, and many people from those regions chose to take refuge there because it was considered safe. The city's geo-strategic position, however, sparked the initial setbacks of the Battle of Zahleh. A the beginning of the war in 1975, the Syrian army briefly deployed in the town. On December 21, 1980, Syria wanted to deploy its troops in Zahlé again and take over it, but those were intercepted by members of the Lebanese Forces and Zahle's citizens. After the killing of five Syrian soldiers, the Syrian army retaliated by continuously bombarding Zahlé. These attacks during Christmas produced a great reaction in the West, especially in France, who described the Syrians' actions as barbaric.

A similar incident occurred six month later: on April 1, 1981, a fire exchange between a Zahlawi position and a Syrian emplacement developed into a full scale Syrian onslaught. Syria proceeded to shell Zahlé for eight days, cutting all routes and preventing any type of aid from reaching the town. Syrian troops tried to enter the town many times but failed repeatedly, making little headway with the Lebanese resistance, and losing several armed vehicles. Syria's actions towards Lebanon created an outrage in the international community. Following the plea of Lebanese communities all over the world, foreign countries, France in particular, pressured Syria to stop their onslaught on Zahlé.

The town has enjoyed much calm ever since the end of the war. However, a bomb detonated inside the local Syriac Orthodox church on March 27, 2011. This incident was possibly connected to the abduction of seven Estonian cyclists not far from Zahlé earlier that month. Fortunately, there was no one inside the church when the bombing occurred, and the next morning, parishioners attended the Sunday mass which was held in the frontyard. [5][6]

Geography and climate

View of Zahlé from the Wadi Al Aarayesh neighborhood.

Zahlé is built upon a series of foothills of the Lebanon mountains, at the Western edge of the Beqaa plateau, with Mount Sannine (2,628 metres (8,622 feet)) towering above it. The hills form a narrow valley, which itself is an extension of a ravine to the Northwest ("Wadi el Aarayesh", meaning "Gorge of Vines") Due to this particular topography, most of Zahlé's neighborhoods spread vertically on steep hill slopes, and the town features an elevation difference of 200 metres (656 feet) in a narrow geographical area. The municipality also extends onto the Beqaa plateau, until the Litani River.

The town is bisected by the Berdawni River, which flows out of the ravine towards the plateau, and joins the Litani after a course of 15 km (9 mi). The Berdawni was at a time Zahlé's sole source of drinking water and its most prized natural emblem, but has become polluted with sewage and solid waste in the last decades, and partially covered up to create parking lots.

Climate

Like the rest of Lebanon, Zahlé enjoys a typically Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification (Csa)), characterized by hot and dry summers, and mild to cool winters where most of the precipitation is concentrated (spring and autumn being pleasantly warm transitional seasons). However, due to the town's altitude and inland location, in the rain shadow of the Lebanon mountains, its climate features some continental characteristics: summers are usually hotter than in coastal areas, with peaks of over 40 °C (104 °F) occurring on a few days each summer, but humidity is very low, and temperatures usually fall below 25 °C (77 °F) at night, which makes summer particularly pleasant compared to coastal cities.

On the other hand, winters are cooler than on the coast, but the wind chill index is usually low, because the hills surrounding the town shelter it from the Northern winds that sweep through the Beqaa plateau. Precipitation is also less abundant than in coastal areas (around 600 mm (24 in) per year, compared to 900 mm (35 in) in Beirut). Snowfall occurs a few times per year, during cold fronts coming from Turkey or Eastern Europe, and heavy snow accumulation is possible, although becoming a rarer occurrence. In spring, weather is sometimes affected by the notorious Khamsin winds, whose typical effects include a rise in temperature, characteristic yellow/orange skies and muddy rain.

Climate data for Zahlé
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 23.4
(74.1) 		25.0
(77.0) 		32.0
(89.6) 		35.0
(95.0) 		38.7
(101.7) 		40.2
(104.4) 		43.4
(110.1) 		42.0
(107.6) 		40.7
(105.3) 		36.8
(98.2) 		29.6
(85.3) 		30.0
(86.0) 		43.4
(110.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 11.8
(53.2) 		13.0
(55.4) 		16.2
(61.2) 		21.2
(70.2) 		27.3
(81.1) 		31.4
(88.5) 		33.7
(92.7) 		34.1
(93.4) 		31.7
(89.1) 		26.5
(79.7) 		19.6
(67.3) 		14.3
(57.7) 		23.4
(74.1)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 2.1
(35.8) 		3.0
(37.4) 		5.2
(41.4) 		8.9
(48.0) 		12.4
(54.3) 		15.7
(60.3) 		18.4
(65.1) 		18.1
(64.6) 		16.0
(60.8) 		12.4
(54.3) 		7.3
(45.1) 		3.8
(38.8) 		10.3
(50.5)
Record low °C (°F) −6.8
(19.8) 		−6.4
(20.5) 		−3.2
(26.2) 		−0.6
(30.9) 		3.4
(38.1) 		8.9
(48.0) 		12.9
(55.2) 		12.9
(55.2) 		10.4
(50.7) 		1.8
(35.2) 		−2.5
(27.5) 		−7.8
(18.0) 		−7.8
(18.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 126.5
(4.98) 		124.5
(4.90) 		76.8
(3.02) 		33.0
(1.30) 		8.2
(0.32) 		0.1
(0.00) 		0.5
(0.02) 		0.3
(0.01) 		12.3
(0.48) 		27.9
(1.10) 		73.2
(2.88) 		106.2
(4.18) 		589.5
(23.19)
Average rainy days 15 13 10 6 3 0 0 0 1 4 7 12 71
Average snowy days 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7
Source: Meoweather[7]

Population

Brazil Street in Zahlé

At the end of the eighteenth century, Zahlé had one thousand inhabitants and two hundred houses. By the late 1850s, the population had grown to between seven and ten thousand people. The current population is not accurately known, since no census has been conducted in Lebanon since 1932, but a sensible estimate gives 50,000 people in the town proper, making it the country's third largest (the locals tend to give figures of 200,000 or 320,000 inhabitants, which however are misleading and completely unrealistic) The urban area includes the neighboring towns of Saadnayel, Taalabaya and Chtaura to the Southwest, which have come to form a single urban entity since the late 1990s due to anarchic growth, and is home to about 85,000 people. The metropolitan area extends over much of the Zahlé District, and additionally comprises:

  • the towns of Jdita and Kab Elias to the Southwest
  • the town of Bar Elias to the South
  • the villages of Furzol, Ablah and Niha to the Northeast
  • and the towns of Riyaq, Haoush Hala and Ali en Nahri to the East

with a total population close to 200,000.

Zahlé is the largest predominantly Christian town in Lebanon and the Middle East (with Christians forming around 90% of its total population) and the one with the largest number of Catholics. While several Middle Eastern cities (Damascus, Cairo, Jerusalem...) have larger Christian communities, these do not constitute a majority. In Lebanon, Beirut also has a larger Christian population than Zahlé (in the city proper), most of which however belongs to the Orthodox confession.

The Christian population of Zahlé has the following approximate composition:

Only two Muslim families remained inside Zahlé during the civil war: Hindi and Zrein. Zahlé's Muslim minority (around 10% of the population) is concentrated in the districts of Karak Nuh (where Noah's tomb is allegedly located) and Haoush el Oumara, on the Northeastern and Southwestern edge of town respectively. 70% of it belongs to the Shia confession, while the remaining 30% are Sunnis. In the past, the town also had a Druze minority and even a small Jewish population, most of which however emigrated during the Lebanese Civil War.

Zahlé has been a land of emigration since the early nineteenth century, with most people emigrating to the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. During the Civil War in the 1970s and 1980s, a new flow of migrants left the town for the United States and Australia. In recent years, emigration has continued, with Canada and the United Arab Emirates being the main destinations. Today, an estimated 250,000 people of local descent live abroad, most of them in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, USA and Australia.

Economy

Zahle Grapes

Being the main town of the Beqaa valley, Lebanon's most important agricultural region, the economy of Zahlé has long been built on agriculture. Grapes are the area's chief product, with vineyards forming a prominent feature of the surrounding landscape. Vines are also individually grown on lattice, on many of the older houses' terraces. A sizable part of the local produce supplies the three wineries present in and around the town, and the numerous distilleries producing arak, the local liquor which Zahlé is famous for.

In addition to vineyards, the hillsides around Zahlé are covered with cherry, pomegranate, plum and mulberry orchards, while potatoes and leafy vegetables are cultivated on the plateau to the East. Livestock is also an important resource, with trout fisheries on the upper course of the Berdawni river, and poultry farms on the surrounding hills. The Civil War struck a blow to local agriculture, when the Syrian army closed off many vineyards, transforming them into military areas, and the town's siege cut it off from potential markets, but the sector has since recovered.

Zahlé saw at a time a prosperous commercial activity due to its location midway between Beirut and Damascus.[8] Paradoxically, it regained some of that activity during the Civil War, when the growing instability in Beirut led to a decentralization of economy. Furthermore, taxation was nonexistent due to the collapse of State authority, which Zahlé took advantage of to expand its industrial and commercial sectors. The town's main industrial area lies to the Southeast, with the chief sectors being paper mills, chemicals, plastics, canning and food processing.

A number of companies and state bodies have their headquarters for the Beqaa region in Zahlé, including the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce.

Education

Zahlé is evolving into a regional center of higher education, after many universities have opened branches there in recent years. Institutes of higher education currently represented in the town include:

Transportation

Zahlé is connected to Beirut (55 km (34 mi) to the West), and from there to all coastal cities, through the Beirut-Damascus road, which passes to the Southwest of the urban area. The journey can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the traffic. Damascus, Syria, is 73 km (45 mi) to the Southeast, and is normally reached within 1:30 hour, excluding the waiting time at the border. A new, multi-million dollar highway connection Beirut to other major Arab cities, passing by Zahle, is ready to be opened in the next few years replacing the Beirut-Damascus highway as the main international route. The Beirut-Damascus international road however has witnessed heavy road works in the last couple of years and is in a better state than it was before it was upgraded.

Zahlé is also connected to Baalbek (36 km (22 mi) to the Northeast) by the trans-Beqaa road, which continues further North towards Homs, Syria. The section stretching along the Zahlé urban area (from Chtaura to Karak Nuh) was recently upgraded also.

Due to widespread car ownership, public transportation remains underdeveloped. There is a single bus line, which runs on the central avenue at rather irregular times. Interurban transportation is done by minivans, which stop on the Manara roundabout at the town's entrance. Zahlé's railway station was located in Muallaqa, but was abandoned after all rail transport in Lebanon stopped during the Civil War.

There were plans to convert the nearby Rayak Air Base (located 10 km (6 mi) to the East of Zahlé), into a civil airport serving the town and the whole valley. A regional airport could prove vital when the road to Beirut is closed because of heavy snowfall. However, the project froze in the early 2000s, after the runway extension had been initiated.

Cityscape and architecture

Main sights

Berdouni Promenade

Cafes along the Berdouni River

The banks of the Berdawni River have long been a place where people of Zahlé and other parts of Lebanon come to socialize. The town's most popular attraction is a 300 m (984 ft) promenade along the river, referred to as "Al Wadi" ("the valley"). Sheltered between the ravine's limestone cliffs, it is lined up with large outdoor restaurants, cafes and playrooms, and shaded by trees. These restaurants specialize in traditional Lebanese meze served with arak. The promenade is closed during late fall and winter, when cold winds from the mountain sweep through the ravine. Casino-arabi

Our Lady of Zahlé and Bekaa

Our Lady of Zahle and Bekaa. Took in the 1970s

Located on a hilltop to the Southwest of Zahlé, this is a 54 m (177 ft) high concrete tower, entirely clad in white marble, and topped with a 10 m (33 ft) high bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, the work of an Italian artist. It is by far Zahlé's most prominent structure, and is visible from practically every spot in town, as well as from several miles around in the central Bekaa Valley. At its base a chapel that can seat a little over of a hundred people. The top of the tower features sweeping views over Zahlé and the Bekaa valley.

Town Hall (Old Serail)

The Old Serail, turned into the prison of Zahle in 1991, serves today as the town hall

This Ottoman building was constructed in 1850 to serve as the town's Serail. Located just downhill from Our Lady of Zahlé and Bekaa, it is a mix of local and Ottoman architecture, and features an atrium occupied by an inner garden and surrounded by arcades. Though still known as "the Old Serail", it currently serves as the Town Hall. In the past, the ground floor used to house the local prison, which suffered of severe overcrowding and substandard conditions. The prison was transferred in 2009 to a new location in Muallaqa, with room for about 800 inmates and much more adequate infrastructure.

Souq al Blatt

The Souq al Blatt ("Tiled Market"), as its name implies, used to be a narrow tiled street, which during Ottoman times housed a street market and a number of khans, visited by traders from Syria, Iraq and Palestine. During the 20th century, it became the main craftsmen area in town, and the khans and market gave way to dozens of workshops. Today, the Souq has changed again: it is no longer tiled, and the only remaining shops are grocery stores. Only the stone slabs lining the pavement give some idea of its former appearance. There have been talks to renovate the Souk al Blatt, which however still haven't materialized.

The Catholic Cathedral (Our Lady of Salvation)

This grandiose complex dates back to 1720, and consists of a series of stone-clad buildings around a large inner courtyard: the church itself (which is the oldest part), the seat of the Archbishop (a converted former monastery), and a small chapel housing an icon, which is said to be a reproduction of a portrait of the Virgin Mary by Saint Lucas. It also features a monumental entrance, an underground cemetery, and a 40 m (131 ft) high bell tower, atop of which a large marble clock was mounted in 1993. Part of the complex was destroyed by a bomb attack in April 1987, and rebuilt ever since.

Grand Hotel Kadri

Hotel Kadri is a prime example of the traditional stone architecture of Zahlé, both in and out. It has long been used by most officials and dignitaries visiting the town, as its largest and most luxurious hotel. The Ottomans converted it to a hospital during World War I. During the Lebanese Civil War, it was occupied by Syrian troops and sustained enormous damage.[9] An ambitious restoration project in the mid 90s was able to bring it back to its former glory. The hotel closed in February 2011 due to a conflict between its direction and the Catholic Church (its effective owner since 1999) and reopened later in 2013.

Menshieh Park

Situated across the street from Grand Hotel Kadri, Menshieh is Zahlé's oldest and shadiest park (newly opened J.T.Skaff Park is larger, but contains considerably fewer trees). The park houses a collection of marble tables with mosaic depictions of several sites in Lebanon, a small pond with waterlilies, a semi-circular marble tholos, and several sculptures representing famous locals. In 2003, the municipality covered a 25 m (82 ft) fir (the park's tallest) with thousands of lights, in an attempt to break the world record for the largest natural Christmas tree.

Archaeological sites

Zahlé in itself offers little archaeological interest, however the Château Ksara winery is worth a visit for its maze of vaults which dates back to Roman times. The suburb of Karak Nuh also features a curiosity: a 40 m (131 ft) long stone structure inside the local mosque, which local tradition believes to be the Tomb of Noah (but is probably a section of a Roman aqueduct) [9]

Furthermore, there are several ancient sites of interest in nearby locations:

  • In Kabelias (12 km (7 mi) to the Southwest): rock sculptures of a bull and three deities that seem to be of Roman origin [10]
  • In Anjar (18 km (11 mi) to the South): the unique ruins of an Umayyad palace built following a Roman layout, using recycled Hellenistic and Roman material. The palace is classified as a World Heritage Site. A Roman temple also stands on a hilltop above nearby Majdel Anjar.[9]
  • Above the village of Furzol (8 km (5 mi) to the Northwest): a series of rock-cut Roman tombs in the limestone cliffs [9]
  • In Niha (11 km (7 mi) to the Northwest): two exquisite Roman temples bearing Phoenician architectural elements (just outside the village), and two others in need of restoration (higher up, in the area referred to as "the Forteress").

Two more sites worth visiting are a more distant trip away:

  • Kamed al Lawz (32 km (20 mi) to the South) is the most important Bronze Age settlement in Lebanon, with finds from the Phoenician, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods having been uncovered as well [11]
  • The world-famous Roman archaeological complex of Baalbeck (another World Heritage Site) is located 36 km (22 mi) to the Northwest.

Culture

Zahlé's culture has long revolved around its signature crop, the grape, and its products, wine and arak. Arak, in particular, has traditionally been served in cafés at virtually any time of the day. Together with the town's gorgeous natural settings, it might have provided with inspiration many of the fifty poets and writers who were born Zahlé over the past century, leading to its designation as "the City of Wine and Poetry". A graceful personification of this nickname stands at the town's entrance: a statue of Erato, the Muse of love poetry, holding a bunch of grapes.

Zahlé's most important cultural event is the "Festival of the Vine", traditionally held each September, during which concerts, plays, poetry evenings and artistic exhibitions are organized daily over the course of two or three weeks. The final Saturday evening features the crowning of the "Maid of the Vine", the local beauty queen, and the next afternoon, the festival closes with arguably its most popular event: a parade of floats held on the town's main avenue. The floats are entirely decorated with flowers according to a central theme.

The other central aspect of the local culture is religious devotion. Zahlé is still a very Catholic and conservative town, and many of its inhabitants display a pride with their religious identity which comes close to fanaticism. Church attendance is high, although it often constitutes a form of social, rather than religious, gathering. It is customary to pay visit to 7 churches on Good Friday. Holidays also endorse a very social character, being a time to visit friends and relatives.

Prophet Elias (Elijah) is the town's patron saint, whose feast on July 20 is traditionally celebrated with fireworks. Another notable holiday is Corpus-Christi, celebrated on the first Thursday of June with a large-scale procession, with a torch-lit parade being held on the previous evening. The Corpus Christi celebration dates back to 1825, when the town was spared the ravages of bubonic plague.

Notable natives

Colombian pop-star Shakira is also of local descent through her father.

  • Rachid Ammoury Maalouf, Founder of the Rba Company and philosopher.
  • Wael El Zahr, The Great Guru.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Lebanon

Zahlé is twinned with:

References

  1. ^ Zeev Schiff; Ehud Yaari; Ina Friedman (1 January 1986). Israel's Lebanon war. Unwin Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-04-327091-2. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  2. ^ Yair Evron (1987). War and intervention in Lebanon: the Israeli-Syrian deterrence dialogue. Croom Helm. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-0-7099-1451-8. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  3. ^ The bulletin. J. Haynes and J.F. Archibald. September 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  4. ^ "Discover Lebanon".
  5. ^ "Estonia's FM: Lebanon doing utmost to find the 7 kidnapped tourists". Ya Libnan. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011. Paet who met with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, said it's impossible 'at this stage' to say who was behind the kidnapping, but the Lebanese officials informed him that they were making every effort to find the Estonian tourists.
  6. ^ "No one hurt in Lebanon church blast". Press TV. MYA/HGH/MMN. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011. A bomb explosion has ripped through a Syriac Orthodox church in eastern Lebanese city of Zahle, causing heavy damage but no casualties.
  7. ^ "Climate History for Zahle,Lebanon". Archived from the original on 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2013-02-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Alixa Naff. A social history of Zahle: the principal market town in nineteenth-century Lebanon. University of California. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d Ivan Mannheim (1 July 2001). Syria & Lebanon handbook: the travel guide. Footprint Travel Guides. pp. 584–. ISBN 978-1-900949-90-3. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  10. ^ Archaeological Institute of America; American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem; American School of Classical Studies at Athens (1907). American journal of archaeology. Macmillan Co. Retrieved 14 April 2011. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ George P. Robertson (June 2008). War Against Islam. Lulu.com. pp. 255–. ISBN 978-1-4092-0159-5. Retrieved 14 April 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zahlé.

Hage Chahine, Carlos and Nevine (2008). C'etait Zahle. Imprime au Liban.

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