Balamand Monastery

Balamand was founded in 1157 by Cistercians who came with the Crusader states, and the church, cloister and vaulted ranges they built survive, plain and heavy in the way Cistercian work is. After the Crusader withdrawal the site passed to the Greek Orthodox church, which has held it since the fourteenth century, and it is now the seat of a patriarchal monastery with a library of manuscripts and icons. A university was built on the same hill in 1988.

Background

Its old names include Belmont, meaning "beautiful mountain", as well as Bellimontis ultra Mare and Bellus-Mons. French Cistercian monks raised the abbey between 1157 and 1169 and stayed until 1289. Syriac-Arabic manuscripts from around 1492 suggest that hermits still lived here in the late 15th century. In 1603 Greek Orthodox monks under Youwakim, metropolitan of Tripoli, restored the monastery, and by 1610 it had been endowed again as a waqf and settled by a dozen monks, who replanted vineyards and olive groves and brought back livestock. The English traveller Henry Maundrell stayed here in 1697 and counted about forty monks.

Source: Wikipedia, "Balamand Monastery"

What you'll find

• The Cistercian church - the twelfth-century abbey church, plain and vaulted.
• The cloister - the medieval courtyard and surrounding ranges.
• The icon collection - Orthodox icons and manuscripts held by the monastery.
• The Koura view - olive country spread below the hill towards the sea.

When to go

April to November is comfortable. The monastery keeps visiting hours around its services and closes at midday. Term time brings university traffic to the hill.

Things to know

It is an active monastery and access to parts is restricted. The university buildings crowd the medieval core. Modest dress is required.

Nearby

Tripoli is fifteen kilometres north, and Enfeh is on the coast below.

Key facts