Beiteddine Palace ( ar, قصر بيت الدين) is a 19th-century palace in

Beiteddine Beit ed-Dine ( ar, بيت الدين), also known as Btaddine ( ar, بتدين) is a small town and the administrative capital of the Chouf District in the Mount Lebanon Governorate in Lebanon. The town is located 45 kilometers southeast of 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 Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. It hosts the annual Beiteddine Festival and the

Beiteddine Palace Museum The Beiteddine Palace Museum is installed in the old stables, which once housed riders and horses of the Beiteddine Palace in Beiteddine, Lebanon. The museum displays a significant collection of Byzantine mosaics. The majority of them come from ...

History

Emir Bashir II of the

Shihab dynasty The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...

, who later became the ruler of the

Mount Lebanon Emirate The Emirate of Mount Lebanon () was a part of Mount Lebanon that enjoyed variable degrees of partial autonomy under the stable suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire between the mid-16th and the early-19th century. The town of Baakleen was the seat o ...

, built the palace between 1788 and 1818 at the site of the Druze hermitage. After 1840, the palace was used by the Ottomans as a government building. During the

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate fou ...

it served as a local administrative office. In 1943, the palace was declared the president's official summer residence. During the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

it was heavily damaged. Parts of the palace are today open to the public while the rest is still the president's summer residence. Beiteddine Palace

A gathering of troops here for an incursion into Syria under Ibrahim Pasha is recorded in the notes to

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

's poetical illustration ''The Gathering of the Chieftains at Beteddein'' to an engraving of a painting (showing the palace) by

William Henry Bartlett William Henry Bartlett (March 26, 1809 – September 13, 1854) was a British artist, best known for his numerous drawings rendered into steel engravings. Biography Bartlett was born in Kentish Town, London in 1809. He was apprenticed to John Bri ...

in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839.

Visiting the palace

The main entrance leads to a 107x45 meter courtyard. Along the right side of this court is a two-story wing, Al-Madafa, which was once used for receiving guests. The entrance to the central section of the palace, Dar El Wousta, is from a double stairway at the far western end of the courtyard. From this point on, the impressive but austere appearance of the outside court and buildings gives way to the delightful architecture featuring beautiful arcades, mandaloun balconies, fountains, facades, rooms with carved and painted cedar wood embellished with Arab calligraphy, antique furniture, inlaid marble and fine mosaics.The central section of the palace
/ref> These rooms served as offices and receptions salons. At the far end of this courtyard rise the private apartments, Dar el Harim, composed of a large and richly decorated façade, the Upper

Harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

, the

selamlik The selamlik, selamlek or sélamlique ( tr, selamlık) was the portion of an Ottoman palace or house reserved for men; as contrasted with the seraglio, which is reserved for women and forbidden to men. Selamlik was also a portion of the househo ...

, the Lower Harem and the kitchens. At the northern edge of the Dar El Harim section is the

hammam A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the Islamic culture, culture of the Muslim world and ...

. Beyond the hammam is the tree-shaded tomb of Emir Bashir Shehab II and his first wife.

References

{{Authority control Architecture in Lebanon Palaces in Lebanon