Bkerké

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Bkerké (Arabic: بكركي also Bkerke or Bkerkeh) is the See of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate, located 650 m above the bay of Jounieh in Lebanon.

The See of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate was originally in Antioch, but due to persecution, it moved first to Saint Maron's Monastery on the Orontes River and then to varied locations in Mount Lebanon, such as Kfarhay, Yanouh, Mayphouk, Lehfed, Habeel, Kfifan, Al Kafr, and Hardeen in the Byblos region. It then moved to Qannoubine in the Kadisha Valley because of intensified persecution and remained from 1440 to 1823 when it moved to Dimane and lastly to Bkerké.^[1] Today, Maronite Patriarchs use Dimane as a summer residence and Bkerké as a winter one.