Theme Week Lebanon – Harissa
Friday, 2 October 2015 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Levant / Levante Category/Kategorie: General , Union for the Mediterranean
Reading Time: 4 minutes
View on Jounieh from Harissa, seen from the observation deck of the shrine © BlingBling10/cc-by-sa-3.0
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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.
The famed pilgrimage site there is a huge 15-ton bronze (and painted white) statue of Virgin Mary , known as Our Lady of Lebanon or Notre Dame du Liban , with her arms outstretched. The statue was made at the end of the 19th century and inaugurated in 1908, on land donated by the noble Maronite Khazen family. Inside the statue’s base, there is a small chapel. A huge Brutalist Maronite cathedral built of concrete and glass stands right beside the statue.
View on Jounieh from Harissa, seen from the observation deck of the shrine © BlingBling10/cc-by-sa-3.0
Among other churches of various denominations, it is worth mentioning the
Byzantine-style ,
Melkite Greek Catholic basilica of
St. Paul , located south of the statue and built between 1948 and 1998. The
Apostolic Nunciature (Papal Embassy), as well as the residences of four patriarchs of
Eastern Catholic Churches , are in the vicinity of Harissa and Our Lady of Lebanon.
Here you can find the complete
Overview of all Theme Weeks .
Read more on
Our Lady of Lebanon and
Wikipedia Harissa . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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