Anjar is a clear historical highlight in the Zahle District: the excavated city makes the Umayyad period tangible through its layout. Zahle’s festival tradition and, within the broader Bekaa region, a statue of the Virgin Mary and a wetland add to the picture. If you want the festival to shape your travel dates, check the specific dates for the edition you wish to attend.
Anjar: the Umayyad period laid out in the city plan
Anjar was founded under the Umayyad Caliphate of Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malak at the beginning of the 8th century and abandoned after a short time. Its excavated remains are a precisely dated testament to Umayyad culture. The site is also considered an outstanding example of the Caliphate’s 8th-century urban planning. This combination of historical context and urban planning makes Anjar a distinctive focus if you want to explore cultural history not just through names, but through how a place is organized.
The fortified city has a rectangular plan measuring 385 × 350 meters and was surrounded by walls with forty towers. Its layout follows two axes: the main axis runs north to south, and the less important one east to west. Together, they divide Anjar into four equal quarters. The dimensions, fortifications, and divisions thus describe different aspects of the same city plan. The Caliph’s great palace and the mosque stand in the southeast quarter, on the highest part of the site. This location connects the buildings to the cardinal direction and the city’s layout.
Zahle: festivals and cultural history
The Festival of the Vine is traditionally held in Zahle every September. Concerts, plays, readings, and art exhibitions take place daily over several weeks. The program spans music and theater as well as literature and visual art. If you want to plan your stay around the festival, check the specific event dates for the year you wish to visit before setting your travel dates. The city is also connected to literary history: fifty poets and writers were born in Zahle in the last century.
Bekaa: a regional view of culture and landscape
In the Bekaa, a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary stands in the tower of Our Lady of Zahle and the Bekaa. It is nine meters high and was created by the Italian artist Pierotti. An elevator leads to the statue; if you plan to use it during your visit, confirm in advance that it is currently operational. This cultural landmark thus combines a specific architectural setting with a practical planning note.
The Aammiq Swamp is also in the Bekaa. It lies at an elevation of about 865 meters on the western side of the central Bekaa Valley, at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Barouk Mountains. This description places the wetland between the valley and the mountain slope. As a thematic contrast to Anjar’s walled city, the swamp offers a different perspective on the region: landscape rather than an archaeological city plan.
Discover more destinations: Baalbeck.
For the main travel overview: Bekaa.
