Raouché () is a residential and commercial neighborhood in

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 ...

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 li ...

. It is known for its upscale apartment buildings, numerous restaurants, and cliff-side cafés that line

Avenue de Paris Avenue de Paris is a seaside, palm-lined street in Beirut, Lebanon. The avenue, which forms with Avenue General de Gaulle the Corniche Beirut promenade, is popular with rollerbladers, cyclists and joggers. Benches The municipality of Beirut ini ...

, which forms part of the

Corniche Beirut The Corniche Beirut is a seaside promenade in the Central District of Beirut, Lebanon. Lined with palm trees, the waterfront esplanade has views of the Mediterranean and the summits of Mount Lebanon to the east. Corniche Beirut has its foundatio ...

. The

corniche A corniche is a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side and falling away on the other. The word has been absorbed into English from the French term ' or "road on a ledge", originally derived from the Itali ...

or the wide, seaside sidewalk of Avenue de Paris is popular on weekends and evenings where strollers and joggers crowd the pavements. Off the coast of Raouché, there is a natural landmark called the Pigeons' Rock (also known as the Rock of Raouché). Located at Beirut's westernmost tip, the two huge rock formations, which stand like gigantic sentinels, are a popular destination for locals and visitors alike. Raouché also is claimed to be the remains of a sea monster the Greek hero Perseus killed to save Andromeda. The stone is rock as Perseus used

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

’s head on the monster to turn it into stone.

Etymology

Some historians believe that the word "raouché" derives from the

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

word ''rosh'' or

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, 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 ...

word ''ras'', both meaning head. Other historians argue that it is a corruption of the French word ''roche'' (''rocher''), meaning rock.

History

The shores near Raouché have yielded the area's oldest evidence of human existence, flints and basic stone tools, which are displayed in the

AUB Aub () is a city in the district of Würzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated southeast of Würzburg, and northwest of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and, nearby the border of Baden-Württemberg. The river Gollach is the main body of water. A ...

Archaeological Museum.

Present status

The area adjacent to Raouché, called 'Dalieh', is presently in the process of being sold to real-estate developers. A campaign was started early 2014 against the privatization of Raouché and the adjacent area-called al-Dalieh-which was initially titled "The last that remains".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raouche Neighbourhoods of Beirut

Etymology

History

Present status

See also

References