Ajaltoun ( ar, عجلتون) is a town and municipality in the

Keserwan District Keserwan District ( ar, قضاء كسروان, transliteration: ''Qaḍā' Kisrawān'') is a district ('' qadaa'') in Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon, to the northeast of Lebanon's capital Beirut. The capital, Jounieh, is overwhelmingly Maro ...

of the

Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate Keserwan-Jbeil ( ar, كسروان - جبيل) is the most recently created governorate of Lebanon. It consists of the districts of Jbeil and Keserwan. Keserwan-Jbeil covers an area of and is bounded by the North Governorate to the north, the B ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

. It is located 24 km (15 miles) north of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Ajaltoun's average elevation is 850 meters (2800') above sea level and its total land area is 612

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s (1510 acres). The municipality consists of a twelve-member council, which as of 2008 was headed by Clauvise Khazen. In addition to the municipal council, two ''

mukhtar A mukhtar ( ar, مختار, mukhtār, chosen one; el, μουχτάρης) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the muk ...

s'' (headmen), Georges Fersan and Antoine Harouni, also serve the town. The Virgin Mary Church, built by the

Khazen Khazen (also El-Khazen, Al-Khazen, Khazin or De Khazen, ar, آل الخازن, is a prominent Levantine family and clan based in Keserwan District, Lebanon, Damascus, Syria, Nablus, Palestine, as well as other districts around the Levant, predomi ...

sheikhs in 1647, the Saint Nicolas Church and the Mar Shalita Monastery are located in Ajaltoun. The town was also the site of fighter plane crash during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Etymology

One of many churches of Ajaltoun - panoramio

Ajaltoun's name comes from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

root word ''′aajel'', which could mean "calf", "to roll" or "wheel". An alternative theory for the town's etymology are that it originates from the Phoenician word for "statue" or "round area".

History

Ottoman tax records indicate Ajaltoun had 23 Christian households and three bachelors in 1523, 19 Muslim households and one bachelor in 1530, and 19 Christian households in 1543. The

Khazen family Khazen (also El-Khazen, Al-Khazen, Khazin or De Khazen, ar, آل الخازن, is a prominent Levantine family and clan based in Keserwan District, Lebanon, Damascus, Syria, Nablus, Palestine, as well as other districts around the Levant, predomi ...

Ballouneh Ballouneh ( ar, بلونة) is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is located 18 kilometers north of Beirut. It has an approximate area of 3.93 square kilometers and an average elevatio ...

in Keserwan settled in the village in 1606.

Demographics

Ajaltoun had an estimated population of 10 000, who live in a total of 2,500 homes and operate 175 businesses. In 2009, there were 2,524 registered voters in the town. Most of the inhabitants are

Maronite Catholics The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Th ...

, although there are minorities of

Melkite Catholics el, Μελχιτική Ελληνική Καθολική Εκκλησία , image = Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Damascus, Syria.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = , abbreviatio ...

and

Greek Orthodox Christian The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

s. The principal families in relative order of size are Sfeir, Ghosn, Harouni, Khalife, Mdawar, Zoghbi, Mrad, Ghanem, Khazen, Abi Chaker and Kassis.

Economy

The main source of income in Ajaltoun is derived from

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

, and there are four hotels and seven restaurants in the town. An annual festival dedicated to Saint Zakhia is held in Ajaltoun in the last days of August.

Education

There are five schools in Ajaltoun, including Ajaltoun Public School, Mar Mansour Sisters for Charity and the Ajaltoun Foundation for Arts. The

Antonine International School Antonine International School (AIS, french: École internationale Antonine) is an international school in Ajaltoun, Lebanon. The school serves levels preschool, through senior high school. As part of the Antonine Maronite Order, it offers an Engli ...

, an institute for higher education, is also located in Ajaltoun.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Keserwan District Populated places in Keserwan District Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Lebanon Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon