Theme Week Lebanon – Harissa

2 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

View on Jounieh from Harissa, seen from the observation deck of the shrine © BlingBling10/cc-by-sa-3.0

View on Jounieh from Harissa, seen from the observation deck of the shrine © BlingBling10/cc-by-sa-3.0

Harissa is a mountain village in Lebanon. The village, which is located 650 meters above sea level, is home to an important Lebanese pilgrimage site, Our Lady of Lebanon. The village is located 20 km north of Beirut, and accessible from the coastal city of Jounieh either by road or by a nine-minute journey by a gondola lift, known as the Téléphérique. It attracts both pilgrims and tourists who want to enjoy views of the bay of Jounieh. Harissa belongs to the Mount Lebanon Governorate. In 1904, Patriarch Elias Hoyek, on the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, announced the foundation of the building of Our Lady of Lebanon. The original church was built by Sleiman Yakoub Hokayim from Batroun. The mountain is called Harissa (after the village at the peak of the mountain). When it was inaugurated in 1908 the Patriarch dedicated Lebanon to the Virgin Mary: “Oh Mary, Queen of mountains and seas and Queen of our beloved Lebanon….” The Patriarch Hoyek designated the first Sunday in the month of May as the Feast of Our Lady of Lebanon. On this day the Maronite Patriarch and all the Lebanese Bishops celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the open air at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon.   read more…

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