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A Place in Lebanon

From Bassit in Syria to Tripoli in Lebanon, then to Rayak, and finally to Anjar.

The time that the Moussadaghians spent at Bassit, Syria, was also a time for the French Mandate on

Syria and Lebanon, to arrange a final location for the displaced Sanjak immigrants and specially for those

from the heroic Moussadagh. Movses Der Kalousdian, a hero of the Forty Days of Moussadagh and later a member of the Syrian parliament (1927-

1937) had to play a vital role in securing and transferring his people from the infectious Bassit

seashore to a semi-desert, dusty plain on the eastern mountain range of Lebanon, just at the eastern

border with Syria. The displaced Moussadaghians were put on ships at Bassit and were carried to

Tripoli, the northern part of Lebanon. Then, they were put on cargo trains to the central rail station of Rayak, in Bekaa. Finally, they were trucked to the

barren plains of Anjar. The exodus was completed on September 14, 1939.

Anjar was a disappointing contrast to Moussadagh. The lush greens of the mountains and the sweet smell of orange groves had vanished. A new chapter in the lives of Moussadaghians had to be written under very

harsh conditions in Anjar.

Purchasing the Land of Anjar

(A New Housh Moussa)

The French Mandate on Syria and Lebanon, based on the decision of the Assembly of Nations in Paris,

decided to purchase a land on which the displaced Moussadaghians and Armenians from Alexandria

could be relocated.

The land of Anjar was the private property of Rushdi Bey Fahmi and his mother Aisha Sabarnaz. Both had

inherited the land from Ahmad Fehmi Pasha.

In 1928, the French Mandate appointed a committee to plan, measure and organize the land purchase.

This committee divided the land of Anjar and issued two separate maps, numbered one and two, in which the ownership of the land was reconfirmed as stated above. On August 19, 1939 , the French authorities issued a decree, number 176, and bought the whole

shares of the Fahmi family for a sum of 410 thousand F.F.s. This sum was allocated by the French

government, the Kalousd Gulbenkian Fund and by some other wealthy Armenian donors.

After the purchase of the land of Anjar, officials came and started the real division of the plots. They are

numbered under the government decision of 355 on February 18, 1940. Based on this decision, the French authorities of that time donated the whole land to all the displaced Moussadaghians and the immigrants of

the Alexandria region.

In 1944-1945, a great number of land ownership certificates were issued to individuals of

Moussadaghian origin. All the land plots, that were not distributed and had remained without ownership

were handed back.

In 1956, all the remaining land plots were numbered as Anjarian land and were retransferred to the

authorities for redistribution. It is worth mentioning that the purchased land of Anjar was not paid by the

Lebanese government but by the French and

Armenians. The purchase and the ownership of the plot are clearly stated on the official documents.

In 1963, based on the decision decree number 40/63 of the Lebanese government, the full rights of land

ownership of the Moussadaghians was reestablished on all land plots of Anjar.

In 1967,new land ownership certificates (dapoo) were issued to redistribute the Anjar lands to native

Moussadaghians because a considerable number of families had been lured to immigrate to Soviet

Armenia.

To complete the brief history of the creation of Anjar, we have to add that there are still some numbered

plots without ownership certificates. The local authorities are working for the final completion of

this important task.

The Construction of the Houses in Anjar

(September 1939-1940)

Anjar is the only village of the Bekaa plain that was planned and constructed based on carefully prepared

maps. The village has the shape of a soaring eagle with extended wings. The master civil engineer was

Hagop Keshishian and he had another Moussadaghian, Apraham Der Kazandjian, as

assistant.

Anjar has a strategic location. It is equidistant from two Arab capitals Beirut and Damascus. Only

approximately 50 kms distance separates the village from any of the cities. The main Beirut-Damascus

road passes through the land of Anjar.

The total area of Anjar is 1800 Hectars (18 km2). It is at an altitude of 850 m from sea level. The climate is

dry with hot summers and cold winters.

The total area allocated for housing is 98 Hectars. The rest of the area is for agriculture. Anjar (known as Housh Moussa) was planned to have six adjacent

sections in one village.

Yoghoun Olouk 975 inhabitants Khoder Beg 936 inhabitants Kabousieh 950 inhabitants

Bitias 870 inhabitants Haji habablik 870 inhabitants

Vakif 538 inhabitants

All the six sections of the village were named after the six villages of Moussadagh. The total number of

Moussadaghians that was recorded in Anjar was 5125 persons representing 1205 families. By the time the

houses were ready, only 2050 families could be counted. The rest had moved out to find favorite

conditions.

The six sections of Anjar are separated from each other by a wide road of 20m. At the highest point, the Orthodox St. Paul church impresses the visitor. Other wide sections were allocated for the Catholic and the

Protestant churches.

Church denominations were as follows:

Orthodox families 803 Catholic families 165 Protestant families 82

Before the houses were built and ready, the Moussadaghians established a tent village on the hilly

ashes of the Khalkis ruins. Later on, the earth was moved and the ruins were excavated to reveal the

Umayyad structure of the ruins.

On September 20, 1939, the construction of the houses began. Winter was harsh; thus, most of the

women and children were distributed to the neighboring villages for shelter and food. Anjarians

are forever grateful to their neighbors for their traditional Arab hospitality.

The original plan of building family houses included two rooms and a toilet for each family. For financial reasons this was cut down. Only one room 4 by 4.5

meters and an adjacent toilet could be built. Some of these rooms still exist in Anjar. They are known as "The French Rooms" . The housing land for each family was 16 by 25 meters. This gave the future

generations the base to build on the housing plots. The total number of the "French Rooms" constructed

was 1065. Each one cost three thousand French Francs.

In the first year, Anjar had no potable running water so people were obliged to carry on their shoulders all

the water they needed from the spring of Anjar (Dzardager) which is 1 km to the north of the village.

Later, fountains (Kastals) were built to ease this torture of the women doing the hard work of carrying

water in harsh winter times on muddy roads.

Survival -The First Years

The hasty exodus of the Moussadaghians from their mountain homeland and their arrival to the barren

plains of Anjar had created tragic cases in every family. People were homesick, hungry, cold, and

demoralized. The AGBU did the utmost to ease the suffering. The French helped greatly by building the

"French Rooms". They also established a field hospital in Deir Zanoun (3 km to the west of the

village), where they assigned a doctor. The Syrian and Lebanese local officials helped greatly in many

aspects.

The Antilias Holy Seat pleaded to all Armenain organizations for help. The Red Cross with AGBU

built a maternity ward (Mayranots). The same stone-walled building serves nowadays as a flowering

kindergarten for the "Haratch" school.

One of the major problems of the Armenian refugees was food. They had no means to cultivate the land.

Some mules and oxen were rented from the neighboring villages. An honourable Armenian from

Iran, Haig Tutunjian, donated a tractor to the anjarian farmers. Soon AGBU donated seeds, corn, and chickpeas in addition to 110 cows, goats, sheep ,

and a couple of horses.

The first crops of Anjar were barley and chickpeas. People had to make flour out of them and bake this

mixture for bread. It was a torture to chew this bread. It hardened like stone after baking. People had

no choice but to chew whatever was available.

The catastrophe that the first Anjarians had to face was malaria. More than eight hundred people lost their lives to this epidemic. The priests spent whole

days at the cemetery. No church bells were permitted for the dead. Malaria killed hundreds and caused

panic in the weak population. Something had to be done in order to overcome the epidemic by all means. All along the swamps, trenches and canals were dug to drain them. Insecticides (DDT) were used to kill

flies and mosquitoes. The AGBU and the Karageozian foundation helped a lot in this battle.

A new clinic for the children was established by the Karageozian foundation. It was the right thing to do

at the right time: a blessing for the newborns and their parents. Anjarians owe much to this clinic and

to those who served there.

Another project of the Karageozian foundation was the summer playground. It was the right approach to

keep the young in motivation and health. Antranig Kendirjian was the heart and soul of this show.

In 1940, the scout movement, HMEM, was another boost. Zarmair Minassian, Tatyos Bakkalian,

Antranig Kendirjian, Aram Hovsepian, and many others had their direct contribution in this essential

work.

In 1943, the Anjarian Municipality started a small farm and a small shoe factory. Some people started

comb making and others worked on "dazgahs" (traditional carpet weaving) .

The first years were tough but the Moussadaghians proved to be tougher.

The History of Anjar

Located in the Central Beka'a valley, about sixty kilometers east of Beirut, 'Anjar - as the inhabitants of the region call it, or Haouch Moussa - as it is officially designated, is a relatively recent settlement of Armenian refugees.

'Anjar is near the Beirut-Damascus international highway and the frontier-post of Masna'a, on the foothills of the eastern Lebanese mountains, near Ain Ghazayel - one of the sources of the Litani river. The total area of its territory is about twenty square kilometers . Its altitude varies be-tween 875 and 951 meters above sea level. The area of the settlement itself is divided into the following zones: the residential district near the foothills of the mountain-chain at the highest altitude of the area; the agricultural zone; and the industrial zone.

Made famous by Franz Werfel in his semi-historical novel Die Vierzig Tage des Musa Dagh (1934) , the inhabitants of 'Anjar were originally inhabitants of six villages located on the foothills of Mount Moussa (1000m above sea level) (between Mount Moussa to the West of Antioch, and the Orontes river - 'Assi, near the ruins of the Selucian port-city on the eastern Mediterranean), in the Sanjak of Alexandretta - Iskandaroun . (Prior to 1939, the Sanjak of Is-kandaroun was a province of Syria, and until 1918 Syria was under Ottoman domination. In the summer of 1915 the total population of the six villages of Mount Moussa amounted to 6811 inhabitants. During the Turkish deportations of the Ar-menian population, 2580 people obeying the orders left, and 4231 stayed to fight the Turkish troops. Those who stayed and fought were rescued by the French navy and taken to Port-Sa'yid in Egypt. After the first World War, they were returned to their homeland, only to be deported after twenty years, with the outbreak of the second World War, as a result of the annexation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta to Turkey, by France - who then had mandatory power over greater Syria and Lebanon, to safeguard the neutrality of Turkey.

In 1939 the French brought to the Beka'a valley 1068 families of the villages of Mount Moussa and settled them on land purchased from the feudal lord Rushdi beg.

The forced evacuation and the relocation of the inhabitants is described well by a native writer, Yetvart Boyadjian in Domar Darakri - (Book of Exile). The reader gets to feel the stress, the feelings of being at a loss...and the hardship of a hostile physical environment....the mosquitoes, the contaminated swamps...of the new location...

Artin (Haroutyoun) Sherbetjian (1922-2003), the mayor of 'Anjar during the time of my fieldwork, gave details too on several occasions of the hardship faced by the inhabitants of Mount Moussa. Long after my fieldwork inn an interview I had with him on June 22, 2001 at Glendale, California he again narrated the story of the up-rooting - of how in spite the 1938 referendum that expressed a consensus of all the Sanjak of Iskandaroun to be part of Syria, the French mandatory authorities gave the region to Turkey to insure its neutrality in the up-coming World War....

The result was the forced up-rooting of the Armenian population of the region. As has been narrated by the inhabitants in 1939 - via ship, the inhabitant of Mount Mousa were sent to Basit (Syria). There, they made temporary homes by bushes & tree foliage. Their domesticated animals were with them too. There was no sanitary system. There was lots of rainfall. The people got infected with diarrhea causing "dysentery" bacteria.

When moved to 'Anjar by military trucks, the people brought with them their digestive system infections. In 'Anjar the Armenian General Benevolent Union distributed tents. Make-shift toilets were made by wood. But the infectious "dysentery" along with the new malaria caused ravages. The houses were built by the participation of all adult males & a contractor. A French army medical doctor was brought in to help deal with the diseased population. A medical volunteer team made up of Anjarians helped distribute medical supplies. Quinine was forced on all. Later the /near East Foundation introduced a programme to fight the mosquitoes & swamps. The hygiene police taught the population to keep the premises clean & to paint the dwellings in white paint (chalk/calcium/ "gir").

The Karaguesian clinic for newborns till 13 year olds was established one year after the houses were built. In 1963 the Armenian Relief Society clinic started its operation.

The inhabitants felt like human lab. animals. All the inhabitants regardless of age or sex were forced medication without their consent. Many ended up suffering side effects of experimental drugs.

Sima Aprahamian, Ph.D.Simone de Beauvoir InstituteConcordia UniversityMontreal, Canada

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Anjar

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A Place in Lebanon

From Bassit in Syria to Tripoli in Lebanon, then to Rayak, and finally to Anjar.

The time that the Moussadaghians spent at Bassit, Syria, was also a time for the French Mandate on

Syria and Lebanon, to arrange a final location for the displaced Sanjak immigrants and specially for those

from the heroic Moussadagh. Movses Der Kalousdian, a hero of the Forty Days of Moussadagh and later a member of the Syrian parliament (1927-

1937) had to play a vital role in securing and transferring his people from the infectious Bassit

seashore to a semi-desert, dusty plain on the eastern mountain range of Lebanon, just at the eastern

border with Syria. The displaced Moussadaghians were put on ships at Bassit and were carried to

Tripoli, the northern part of Lebanon. Then, they were put on cargo trains to the central rail station of Rayak, in Bekaa. Finally, they were trucked to the

barren plains of Anjar. The exodus was completed on September 14, 1939.

Anjar was a disappointing contrast to Moussadagh. The lush greens of the mountains and the sweet smell of orange groves had vanished. A new chapter in the lives of Moussadaghians had to be written under very

harsh conditions in Anjar.

Purchasing the Land of Anjar

(A New Housh Moussa)

The French Mandate on Syria and Lebanon, based on the decision of the Assembly of Nations in Paris,

decided to purchase a land on which the displaced Moussadaghians and Armenians from Alexandria

could be relocated.

The land of Anjar was the private property of Rushdi Bey Fahmi and his mother Aisha Sabarnaz. Both had

inherited the land from Ahmad Fehmi Pasha.

In 1928, the French Mandate appointed a committee to plan, measure and organize the land purchase.

This committee divided the land of Anjar and issued two separate maps, numbered one and two, in which the ownership of the land was reconfirmed as stated above. On August 19, 1939 , the French authorities issued a decree, number 176, and bought the whole

shares of the Fahmi family for a sum of 410 thousand F.F.s. This sum was allocated by the French

government, the Kalousd Gulbenkian Fund and by some other wealthy Armenian donors.

After the purchase of the land of Anjar, officials came and started the real division of the plots. They are

numbered under the government decision of 355 on February 18, 1940. Based on this decision, the French authorities of that time donated the whole land to all the displaced Moussadaghians and the immigrants of

the Alexandria region.

In 1944-1945, a great number of land ownership certificates were issued to individuals of

Moussadaghian origin. All the land plots, that were not distributed and had remained without ownership

were handed back.

In 1956, all the remaining land plots were numbered as Anjarian land and were retransferred to the

authorities for redistribution. It is worth mentioning that the purchased land of Anjar was not paid by the

Lebanese government but by the French and Armenians. The purchase and the ownership of the

plot are clearly stated on the official documents.

In 1963, based on the decision decree number 40/63 of the Lebanese government, the full rights of land

ownership of the Moussadaghians was reestablished

on all land plots of Anjar.

In 1967,new land ownership certificates (dapoo) were issued to redistribute the Anjar lands to native

Moussadaghians because a considerable number of families had been lured to immigrate to Soviet

Armenia.

To complete the brief history of the creation of Anjar, we have to add that there are still some numbered

plots without ownership certificates. The local authorities are working for the final completion of

this important task.

The Construction of the Houses in Anjar

(September 1939-1940)

Anjar is the only village of the Bekaa plain that was planned and constructed based on carefully prepared

maps. The village has the shape of a soaring eagle with extended wings. The master civil engineer was

Hagop Keshishian and he had another Moussadaghian, Apraham Der Kazandjian, as

assistant.

Anjar has a strategic location. It is equidistant from two Arab capitals Beirut and Damascus. Only

approximately 50 kms distance separates the village from any of the cities. The main Beirut-Damascus

road passes through the land of Anjar.

The total area of Anjar is 1800 Hectars (18 km2). It is at an altitude of 850 m from sea level. The climate is

dry with hot summers and cold winters.

The total area allocated for housing is 98 Hectars. The rest of the area is for agriculture. Anjar (known as Housh Moussa) was planned to have six adjacent

sections in one village.

Yoghoun Olouk 975 inhabitants Khoder Beg 936 inhabitants Kabousieh 950 inhabitants

Bitias 870 inhabitants

Haji habablik 870 inhabitants Vakif 538 inhabitants

All the six sections of the village were named after the six villages of Moussadagh. The total number of

Moussadaghians that was recorded in Anjar was 5125 persons representing 1205 families. By the time the

houses were ready, only 2050 families could be counted. The rest had moved out to find favorite

conditions.

The six sections of Anjar are separated from each other by a wide road of 20m. At the highest point, the Orthodox St. Paul church impresses the visitor. Other wide sections were allocated for the Catholic and the

Protestant churches.

Church denominations were as follows:

Orthodox families 803 Catholic families 165 Protestant families 82

Before the houses were built and ready, the Moussadaghians established a tent village on the hilly

ashes of the Khalkis ruins. Later on, the earth was moved and the ruins were excavated to reveal the

Umayyad structure of the ruins.

On September 20, 1939, the construction of the houses began. Winter was harsh; thus, most of the

women and children were distributed to the neighboring villages for shelter and food. Anjarians

are forever grateful to their neighbors for their traditional Arab hospitality.

The original plan of building family houses included two rooms and a toilet for each family. For financial reasons this was cut down. Only one room 4 by 4.5

meters and an adjacent toilet could be built. Some of these rooms still exist in Anjar. They are known as "The French Rooms" . The housing land for each family was 16 by 25 meters. This gave the future

generations the base to build on the housing plots. The total number of the "French Rooms" constructed

was 1065. Each one cost three thousand French

Francs.

In the first year, Anjar had no potable running water so people were obliged to carry on their shoulders all

the water they needed from the spring of Anjar (Dzardager) which is 1 km to the north of the village.

Later, fountains (Kastals) were built to ease this torture of the women doing the hard work of carrying

water in harsh winter times on muddy roads.

Survival -The First Years

The hasty exodus of the Moussadaghians from their mountain homeland and their arrival to the barren

plains of Anjar had created tragic cases in every family. People were homesick, hungry, cold, and

demoralized. The AGBU did the utmost to ease the suffering. The French helped greatly by building the

"French Rooms". They also established a field hospital in Deir Zanoun (3 km to the west of the

village), where they assigned a doctor. The Syrian and Lebanese local officials helped greatly in many

aspects.

The Antilias Holy Seat pleaded to all Armenain organizations for help. The Red Cross with AGBU

built a maternity ward (Mayranots). The same stone-walled building serves nowadays as a flowering

kindergarten for the "Haratch" school.

One of the major problems of the Armenian refugees was food. They had no means to cultivate the land.

Some mules and oxen were rented from the neighboring villages. An honourable Armenian from

Iran, Haig Tutunjian, donated a tractor to the anjarian farmers. Soon AGBU donated seeds, corn, and chickpeas in addition to 110 cows, goats, sheep ,

and a couple of horses.

The first crops of Anjar were barley and chickpeas. People had to make flour out of them and bake this

mixture for bread. It was a torture to chew this bread. It hardened like stone after baking. People had

no choice but to chew whatever was available.

The catastrophe that the first Anjarians had to face was malaria. More than eight hundred people lost their lives to this epidemic. The priests spent whole

days at the cemetery. No church bells were permitted for the dead. Malaria killed hundreds and caused

panic in the weak population. Something had to be done in order to overcome the epidemic by all means. All along the swamps, trenches and canals were dug to drain them. Insecticides (DDT) were used to kill

flies and mosquitoes. The AGBU and the Karageozian foundation helped a lot in this battle.

A new clinic for the children was established by the Karageozian foundation. It was the right thing to do

at the right time: a blessing for the newborns and their parents. Anjarians owe much to this clinic and

to those who served there.

Another project of the Karageozian foundation was the summer playground. It was the right approach to

keep the young in motivation and health. Antranig Kendirjian was the heart and soul of this show.

In 1940, the scout movement, HMEM, was another boost. Zarmair Minassian, Tatyos Bakkalian,

Antranig Kendirjian, Aram Hovsepian, and many others had their direct contribution in this essential

work.

In 1943, the Anjarian Municipality started a small farm and a small shoe factory. Some people started

comb making and others worked on "dazgahs" (traditional carpet weaving) .

The first years were tough but the Moussadaghians proved to be tougher.

An Umayyad site of LebanonAanjar, 58 kilometers from Beirut, is completely different from any other archaeological experience you'll have in Lebanon. At other historical sites in the country, different epochs and civilizations are superimposed one on top of the other.Aanjar is exclusively one period, the Umayyad.Lebanon's other sites were founded millennia ago, but Aanjar is a relative new-comer, going back to the early 8th century A.D. Unlike Tyre and Byblos, which claim continuous habitation since the day they were founded, Aanjar flourished for only a few decades.Other than a small Umayyad mosque in Baalbeck, we have few other remnants from this important period of Arab History.

Aanjar also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland commercial center. The city benefited from its strategic position on intersecting trade routes leading to Damascus, Homs, Baalbeck and the south. This almost perfect quadrilateral of ruins lies in the midst of the richest agricultural land in Lebanon. It is only a short distance from gushing springs and one of the important sources of the Litani River. Today's name, Aanjar, comes from the Arabic Ain Gerrha, "the source of Gerrha", the name Aerial view of the site of Aanjar

of an ancient city founded in this area during Hellenistic times. Aanjar has a special beauty. The city's slender columns and fragile arches stand in contrast to the massive bulk of the nearby Anti-Lebanon mountains--an eerie background for Aanjar extensive ruins and the memories of its short but energetic moment in history.

The Tetrapylon,a monumental entrance

with four gates

History, Aanjar's Masters, The UmayyadsThe Umayyads, the first hereditary dynasty of Islam, ruled from Damascus in the first century after the Prophet Mohammed, from 660 to 750 A.D.They are credited with the great Arab conquests that created an Islamic empire stretching from the Indus Valley to southern France.Skilled in administration and planning, their empire prospered for a 100 years. Defeat befell them when the Abbasids--their rivals and their successors--took advantage of the Umayyad's increasing decadence.Some chronicles and literary documents inform us that it was Walid I, son of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who built the city--probably between 705and 715 A.D.Walid's son Ibrahim lost Aanjar when he was defeated by his cousin Marwan II in a battle two kilometers form the city.

Excavating AanjarJust after Lebanon gained independence in 1943, the country's General Directorate of Antiquities began to investigate a strip of land in the Beqaa valley sandwiched between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains some 58 kilometers east of Beirut. This was Aanjar, then a stretch of blend bareness with parched shrubbery and stagnant swamps that covered the vast area of these archaeological remains.The site at first seemed painfully modest, especially when compared with the rest of Lebanon's archaeological wonders. What attracted the antiquities experts to Aanjar was not such the ruins themselves as the information they held. Beneath the impersonal grayness of Aanjar, the experts suggested, lay the vestiges of the eighth century Umayyad dynasty that ruled from Damascus and held sway over an empire.That idea was particularly interesting because Lebanon--that unique crossroads of the ages--boasted ample archaeological evidence of almost all stages of Arab history with the exception of the Umayyad.Early in the excavation engineers drained the swamps. Stands of evergreen cypresses and eucalyptus trees were planted and flourish

General view of the site

The public bathstoday, giving these stately ruins a park-like setting. To date, almost the entire site has been excavated and some monuments have been restored. Among the chief structures are the Palace I and the Mosque in the south-east quarter, the residential area in the southwest, the Palace II in the northwest and the Palace III and public bathin the northeast.

V I S I T I N G T H E S I T E

The Cardo Maximus lined with shops

To sense the vastness of the city, drive around the outside of the fortified enclosures before entering the 114,000 square-meter site. The north-south walls run 370 meters and the east-west sides extend 310 meters. The walls are two meters thick and built from a core of mud and rubble with an exterior facing facing of sizable blocks and an interior facing of smaller layers of blocks. Against the interior of the enclosures are three stairways built on each side. They gave access to the top of the walls where guards circulated and protected the town. Each wall

has an imposing gate, and towers (40 in all) are sited on each stretch of wall. The Umayyad's hundred-year history is steeped in war and conquest. Apparently their rulers felt that these wall and tower defenses were a necessary feature of their architecture.Nearly 60 inscriptions and graffiti from Umayyad times are scattered on the city's surrounding walls. One of them, dated 123 of the Hegira (741 A.D.), is located in the western wall between the fourth and the fifth tower from the southwest.Today visitors enter through the northern gate of the site but as the main points of interest are at the southern half of the city, it's better to walk up the main street to the far end of the site. You are walking along the 20-meter-wide Cardo Maximus (a Latin meaning a major street running north and south) which is flanked by shops, some of which have been reconstructed.At the half-way point of this commercial street a second major street called Decumanus Maximus (running east to west) cuts across it at right angles. It is also flanked by shops. In all, 600 shops have been uncovered, giving Aanjar the right to call itself a major Umayyad strip mall.The masonry work, of Byzantine origin, consists of courses of cut stone alternating with courses of brick. This technique, credited to the Byzantines reduced the effects of earthquakes.The tidy division of the site into four quarters is based on earlier Roman city planning. At the city's crossroads you'll have your first hint that the Umayyads were great recyclers. Tetrapylons mark the four corners of the intersection.This configuration, called a tetrastyle is remarkably The Great Palacereminiscent of Roman architecture. One of the tetrapylons has been reconstructed with its full quota of four columns. Note the Greek inscriptions at the bases and the Corinthian capitals with their characteristic carved acanthus leaves-delightful to look at but definitely not original to the Umayyads.A city with 600 shops and an overwhelming concern for security must have required a fair number of people. Keeping this in mind, archaeologists looked for remains of an extensive residential area and found it just beyond the tetrastyle to the southwest. However, these residential quarters received the least attention from archaeologists and need further excavation.Along both sides of the streets you'll see evenly spaced column bases and mostly fallen columns that were once part of an arcade that ran the length of the street.

Enough of these have been reconstructed to allow your imagination to finish the job.The columns of the arcade are by no means homogeneous; they differ in type and size and are crowned by varying capitals. Most of them are Byzantine, more indication that the Unayyads helped themselves to Byzantine and other ruins scattered around the area.

Reconstructed façadeof the Great Palace

A façade of the Great Palace

On your way to the arcaded palace ahead, notice the numerous slabs of stone that cover the top of what was the city's drainage and sewage system. These manholes are convincing evidence of the city's well-planned infrastructure.The great or main palace itself was the first landmark to emerge in 1949 when Aanjar was discovered. One wall and several arcades of the southern half of the palace have been reconstructed. As you stand in the 40-square-meter open courtyard, it is easy to picture the palace towering around you all four sides. Just to the north of the palace are the sparse remains of a mosque measuring 45x32 meters. The mosque had two public entrances and a private one for the caliph.If you enjoy a good game of archaeological hide and seek, the second palace is the place for you. It is decorated with much finer and more intricate engravings, rich in motifs borrowed from the Greco-Roman tradition. Very little reconstruction has been done to this palace so its floors and grounds are in their natural state. With patience you will

find stone carvings of delightful owls, eagles, seashells and the famous acanthus leaves.More evidence of the Umayyad dependence on the architectural traditions of other cultures appears some 20 meters north of this second palace. These Umayyad baths contain the three classical sections of the Roman bath: the vestiary where patrons changed clothing before their bath and rested afterwards, and three rooms for cold, warm and hot water. The size of the vestiary indicates the bath was more than a source of phisical well-being but also a center of social interaction. A second, smaller, bath or similar design is marked on the map.

Aanjar TodayAanjar is open daily. Close to the ruins of Aanjar are a number of restaurants which offer fresh trout plus a full array of Lebanese and Armenian dishes. Some of the restaurants are literally built over the trout ponds. Aanjar has no hotels but lodging can be found in Chtaura 15 kilometers away.If you have timeAin Gerrha. Aanjar's major spring is located 3 kilometers northeast of the ruins.Majdal Aanjar. A Roman period temple sits on a hilltop overlooking this village, which is one kilometer from Aanjar.The Mausoleum of El-Wali Zawur is the burial spot of a religious personage from medieval times. Until the early 1980s fertility rites were held here.Kfar Zabad. Roman temple ruins and a cave with stalactites and stalagmites. Special equipment needed for the cave.

Anjar

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Brief Description

The city of Anjar was founded by Caliph Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century. The ruins reveal a very regular layout, reminiscent of the palace-cities of ancient times, and are a unique testimony to city planning under the Umayyads.

© UNESCO / Véronique Dauge More pictures ...

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

Founded during the Umayyad period under Caliph Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malak (705-715), the city of Anjar bears outstanding witness to the Umayyad civilization. Anjar is an example of an inland commercial centre, at the crossroads of two important routes: one leading from Beirut to Damascus and the other crossing the Bekaa and

leading from Homs to Tiberiade. The site of this ancient city was only discovered by archaeologists at the end of the 1940s. Excavations revealed a fortified city surrounded by walls and flanked by forty towers, a rectangular area (385 x 350 m). Dominated by gates flanked by porticos, an important North-South axis and a lesser East-West axis, superposed above the main collectors for sewers, divide the city into four equal quadrants. Public and private buildings are laid out according to a strict plan: the great palace of the Caliph and the Mosque in the South-East quarter occupies the highest part of the site, while the small palaces (harems) and the baths are located in the North-East quarter to facilitate the functioning and evacuation of waste waters. Secondary functions and living quarters are distributed in the North-West and South-West quarters. The ruins are dominated by spectacular vestiges of a monumental tetrapyle, as well as by the walls and colonnades of the Umayyad palace, three levels of which have been preserved. These structures incorporate decorative or architectonical elements of the Roman era, but are also noteworthy for the exceptional plasticity of the contemporary decor within the construction.

Anjar was never completed, enjoying only a brief existence. In 744, Caliph Ibrahim, son of Walid, was defeated and afterwards the partially destroyed city was abandoned. Vestiges of the city of Anjar therefore constitute a unique example of 8th century town planning. Built at the beginning of the Islamic period, it reflects this transition from a protobyzantine culture to the development of Islamic art and this through the evolution of construction techniques and architectonical and decorative elements that may be viewed in the different monuments.

Criterion (iii): Founded during the Umayyad period under the Caliphate of Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malak at the beginning of the 8th century, the excavated vestiges of the city of Anjar, which was abandoned after a short period, provide an eminent testimony, precisely dated, of the Umayyad civilization.

Criterion (iv): Architectural complex possessing all the true characteristics of the Umayyad civilization, the city

of Anjar constitutes an outstanding example of 8th century town planning of the Umayyad caliphate. The evolution of certain protobyzantine styles towards a more developed Islamic architecture is apparent in the building techniques as well as in the architectonical and ornamental elements employed.

Integrity (2009)

The surrounding walls of Anjar incorporate all the features of town planning and the monuments that characterise the Umayyad city. Some features exist on the outskirts of the complex, such as a caravanserai, and these must be protected by a buffer zone which would also protect the visual integrity of the Bekaa Valley and limit the development of modern constructions.

Authenticity (2009)

Despite major restoration and reconstruction works, the different monuments comprising the Umayyad city of Anjar clearly demonstrate their functions and relations, and the overall plan of the city can easily be identified. A wider diffusion of excavation results would facilitate a better comprehension of the features.

Protection and management requirements (2009)

The Directorate General of Antiquities is responsible for the property. Protection of the archaeological vestiges is ensured through regular maintenance (weeding and consolidation of the structures). A management plan is under preparation. The expropriation of parcels of land adjacent to the archaeological site is ongoing to counter urban development and provide a double band of protection for the site: the first being « non aedificandi", and the second an area where exploitation will be minimal in order to conserve the beauty of the surrounding landscape.

Long Description

Anjar is an outstanding and closely dated example of Umayyad urbanism and it also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland commercial centre. The

ruins in the Beqaa, not far from the roads that link Homs and Baalbek to Tiberias and Mount Lebanon to Damascus, were discovered when archaeological explorations began in 1949.

Located on a site that was occupied over a long period (re-employed elements of Greek, Roman and early Christian buildings are frequently found in the masonry of its walls), the city of Anjar was founded at the beginning of the 8th century by Caliph Walid I (705-15). It takes its name from the Arabic term ayn al-jaar (water from the rock), referring to the streams that flow from the nearby mountains.

This surprising urban creation, which was never completed, had only a brief existence in 744. The partisans of Caliph Ibrahim, son of Walid, were defeated outside the walls of Anjar by Marwan ben Mohammed, who became the last Omayyad caliph. After this, Anjar, which was partially destroyed, was abandoned. Like Abu al Fida after him, William of Tyre saw only ruins, the results of numerous battles of the 12th century. It is the only non-coastal trading city in the country, and it flourished for only 20-30 years before the Abbasids overran the city and it fell into disuse. At its peak, it housed more than 600 shops, Roman-style baths, two palaces and a mosque.

Excavations have revealed a fortified city, enclosed by walls flanked by 40 towers where an inscription from 741 may still be seen in situ. The rectangular fortified wall (385 m by 350 m) is precisely oriented. The walls are 2 m thick and built from a core of mud and rubble with an exterior facing of sizable blocks and an interior facing of smaller layers of blocks. Against the interior of the enclosures are three stairways built on each side. They gave access to the top of the walls where guards circulated and protected the town.

Dominated by gates flanked by porticos, an important north-south axis (cardo maximus) and a lesser east-west axis (decumanus maximus) are superimposed above the main sewers and divide the city into four equal quadrants. Public and private buildings are laid out according to a strict plan: the principal palace and

mosque in the south-east quadrant; the secondary palace and baths in the north-east and north-west quadrants; the densely inhabited south-west quadrant criss-crossed by a network of streets built on an orthogonal plan.

The urban spatial organization, which is remarkably devised, is more reminiscent of that of a royal residence (of which the city-palace of Diocletian at Split remains the best example) than that of the Roman military camps and colonial cities. The ruins are dominated by the spectacular vestiges of a monumental tetrapyle, at the crossing of the two principal axes, as well as by the walls and colonnades of the Omayyad palace, three levels of which have been preserved. These structures incorporate sculptures from the Roman period, but are notable as well for the exceptional plasticity of the elements of the contemporary decor within the construction.

More evidence of the Umayyad dependence on the architectural traditions of other cultures appears in the Umayyad baths, which contain the three classical sections of the Roman bath: the vestiary where patrons changed clothing before their bath and rested afterwards, and three rooms for cold, warm and hot water. The size of the vestiary indicates the bath was more than a source of physical well-being but also a centre of social interaction.

A city with 600 shops and an overwhelming concern for security must have required a fair number of people. Keeping this in mind, archaeologists looked for remains of an extensive residential area and found it just beyond the tetrastyle to the south-west.

Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC

News

UNESCO Director-General launches “heritage alert” for the Middle East Aug 11, 2006

Links

Patrimonium-mundi.org : visit this site in panophotographies - immersive and interactive

spherical images Panorama of the Ruins of Anjaar Places in Lebanon - Anjar Destination Lebanon: Anjar (Ministy of Tourism)