Anjar, Lebanon

Anjar عنجر Անճար
Ruins of the Umayyad city of Anjar
Anjar Location in Lebanon
Coordinates: 33°43′33″N 35°55′47″E / 33.72583°N 35.92972°E / 33.72583; 35.92972Coordinates: 33°43′33″N 35°55′47″E / 33.72583°N 35.92972°E / 33.72583; 35.92972region:LB_type:city
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Beqaa Governorate
District	Zahle District
Government
• Mayor	[Vartkes Khoshian]
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Anjar
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv
Designated	1984 (8th session)
Reference no.	293
State Party	Lebanon
Region	Arab States

The main road in Anjar

Anjar (Arabic: عنجر‎‎ / ALA-LC: ‘Anjar; Armenian: Անճար French: Anjar, meaning "unresolved or running river"), also known as Haoush Mousa (Arabic: حوش موسى‎‎ / Ḥawsh Mūsá), is a town of Lebanon located in the Bekaa Valley. The population is 2,400,^[1] consisting almost entirely of Armenians. The total area is about twenty square kilometers (7.7 square miles). In the summer, the population swells to 3,500, as members of the Armenian diaspora return to visit there.

History

The town's establishment is normally attributed to the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century as a palace-city. However, historian Jere L. Bacharach claims it was al-Walid's son, al-Abbas, who was responsible for Anjar's founding circa 714 CE, citing the Byzantine Greek chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, who recorded that al-Abbas built the town.

After being abandoned in later years, Anjar was resettled in 1939 with several thousand Armenian refugees from the Musa Dagh area. Its neighborhoods are named after the six villages of Musa Dagh: Haji Habibli, Kebusiyeh, Vakif, Kheder Bek, Yoghunoluk and Bitias. The Syrian Army chose Anjar as one of its main military bases in the Beqaa Valley and the headquarters of its intelligence services.

Religion and education

An Armenian church in Anjar

The majority of Anjar's Armenians are Armenian Apostolics (Orthodox) who belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church and Holy See of Cilicia. Armenian Apostolic Saint Paul Church is the second largest Armenian church in Lebanon.^[2]

The Armenian Apostolic community has its own school, Haratch Calouste Gulbenkian Secondary School. In 1940, the chief editor of the Armenian newspaper Haratch in Paris, Shavarsh Missakian, organized a fundraising campaign among the Armenians living in France which enabled the building of the "Haratch" Elementary School next to the newly established St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church. The official opening of the school took place in 1941. The administration of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation contributed to the expansion of the school, which was named in honor of Calouste Gulbenkian.

Our Lady of the Rosary Armenian Catholic Church in Anjar serves as church for the Armenian Catholics, who also run the Armenian Catholic Sisters School. In the beginning, the school had two divisions, St. Hovsep for the male students and Sisters of Immaculate Conception for the female students. In 1954, these departments were united. 1973 saw the official opening of the Aghajanian Orphan House, already serving as an Armenian Catholic orphanage since 1968.

The Armenian Evangelical Church of Anjar is in operation to serve Anjar's small Armenian Evangelical community. The Protestant community school was established in 1948 by Sister Hedwig Aienshanslin as part of her missionary work in Anjar. In 1953, the school, which had already become an intermediate school, was promoted into a secondary school. It has day classes as well as boarding facilities for students from other regions who stay there throughout the winter.

Anjar antiquities

Formerly known as Gerrha, a stronghold built by Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid ibn Abdel Malek in the 8th century, the site was later abandoned, leaving a number of well-preserved ruins. The present-day name derives from Arabic Ayn Gerrha, or "source of Gerrha". The ruins have been recognized as a World Heritage Site.

Ruins of Umayyad palace

See also

• Franco-Armenian relations

Gallery

• 
  View of site, Anjar (Lebanon)
• 
  Arches and stone walls
• 
  Archaeological ruins in Anjar

References

Bibliography

• Bacharach, Jere L. (1996). "Marwanid Umayyad Building Activities: Speculations on Patronage". In Necipoğlu, Gülru. Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. 13. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 27–44. ISBN 90-04-10633-2. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anjar.

• Official Website of Anjar
• Anjar, Archnet Digital Library.
• Website about Anjar
• Lebanon, the Cedars' Land: Anjar
• Ya Libnan | Lebanon News | Spotlight on Anjar
• Photos of Anjar ruins

Zahle District, Beqaa Governorate
Capital: Zahlé
Towns and villages	Ain Kfarzabad Ali an Nahri Anjar Barelias Bouarej Chtaura Jdita Kabelias Kafr Zabad Karak Nuh Majdal Anjar Niha Bekaa Qâa er Rîm Qabb Ilyas Rayak Saadnayel Taalabaya Zahlé

World Heritage Sites in Lebanon
Byblos Anjar Baalbek Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab) Tyre

Archaeological sites in Lebanon

Aadloun Aaiha Aammiq Aaqbe Ain Aata Ain Choaab Ain Harcha Akbiyeh Akkar plain foothills Al-Bireh Amioun Amlaq Qatih Anjar, Lebanon Antelias cave Apheca Ard Saouda Ard Tlaili Arqa Baalbek Baidar ech Chamout Batroumine Batroun Bechamoun Beirut Beit Mery Berytus (Roman Beirut) Bustan Birke Byblos Canalizations of Zenobia Dahr El Ahmar Dakoue Deir El Aachayer Deir el Ahmar Deir Mar Maroun Dekwaneh Douris (Baalbek) Elaea (Lebanon) Flaoui Fadous Sud Hebbariye Hadeth south Haret ech Cheikh Hashbai Heliopolis in Phoenicia Hermel plains Iaat Jabal es Saaïdé Jbaa Jdeideh Jebel Aabeby Jeita Grotto Joub Jannine Jieh Kafr Zabad Kamid al lawz Kamouh el Hermel Karak Nuh Kaukaba Kefraya Kafr Tebnit Kfar Qouq Kfarhata Khallet Michte Khirbet El-Knese Kouachra megalith field Ksar Akil Labweh Lake Qaraoun (Ain Jaouze) Libbaya Lion Tower Majdal Anjar Mansourieh Maronite mummies Mayrouba Mdoukha (Jebel Kassir) Moukhtara Mtaileb Nabi Zair Nachcharini Nahle, Lebanon Neba'a Faour Nebi Safa Niha Bekaa Phoenician port of Beirut Plain of Zgharta Qaa Qal'at Bustra Qalaat Tannour Qaraoun Qasr el Banat Ras Baalbek I Ras Beirut Ras El Kelb Rashaya Roman Forum of Berytus Roman hippodrome of Berytus Sands of Beirut Saraain El Faouqa Shheem Sidon Sin el Fil Sarepta Stone of the Pregnant Woman Tahun ben Aissa Taire Tayibe Tell Aalaq Tell Ablah Tell Addus Tell Ahle Tell Ain Cerif Tell Ain el Meten Tell Ain Ghessali Tell Ain Nfaikh Tell Ain Saouda Tell Ain Sofar Tell Ayoub Tell Bar Elias Tell Beshara Tell Bir Dakoue Tell Deir Tell Delhamieh Tell Derzenoun Tell Dibbine Tell el-Burak Tell El Ghassil Tell El Hadeth Tell Fadous Tell Hazzine Tell Hoch Rafqa Tell Karmita Tell Khardane Tell Kirri Tell Jezireh Tell Jisr Tell Kabb Elias Tell Majdaloun Tell Masoud Tell Mekhada Tell Meouchi Tell Mureibit Tell Murtafa Tell Nahariyah Tell Neba'a Chaate Tell Neba'a Litani Tell Qasr Labwe Tell Rasm El Hadeth Tell Rayak Tell Saatiya Tell Safiyeh Tell Saoudhi Tell Serhan Tell Shaikh Hassan al Rai Tell Shamsine Tell Sultan Yakoub Tell Taalabaya Tell Wardeen Tell Zenoub Tell Zeitoun Temnin el-Foka Temple of Bacchus Temple of Eshmun Temple of Jupiter Tlail megaliths Toron Tripolis (region of Phoenicia) Tyre Necropolis Tyre, Lebanon Wadi Boura Wadi Koura Wadi Yaroun Yammoune Yanta Ain W Zain Zahlé