Moussa Castle

Moussa Abdel Karim al-Maamari was told as a schoolboy that his drawings of castles were a waste of time, and he spent the following sixty years building one: cutting, carving and laying every stone himself, from 1962 onward, on the road between Deir el Qamar and Beiteddine. Inside are hundreds of carved and mechanised figures showing village life of the past, and a very large collection of weapons he assembled. It is an entirely personal project rather than a historic building, and it is hard to categorise.

History

Moussa Abdel Karim Al Maamari, born in 1931, left school after his teacher mocked his dream of a castle and worked with his uncle restoring the fortress of Sidon; the castle he built himself, of 3,500 square metres, opened to the public in 1969, and he died in 2018 (Wikipedia, Moussa Castle).

The main sights

• The hand-cut stone - the whole structure built and carved by one man.
• The dioramas - hundreds of moving figures showing village life and crafts.
• The weapons collection - a large assembly of arms across several rooms.
• The carved facades - reliefs worked into the exterior walls.

When to go

April to November is the comfortable season. Weekends are busiest with family visits. Winter access on the Chouf road can be affected by snow.

Good to know

This is a modern folly, not a historic castle, and visitors expecting the latter are regularly confused. The dioramas are dated and some mechanisms no longer work. The entry price is high relative to what is inside.

Nearby

Deir el Qamar and Beiteddine are both a few minutes away.