Balamand monastery

Balamand Monastery, located ten kilometers southwest of Tripoli, is one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries in Lebanon. Its name probably goes back. To the French "belmonte" is a beautiful rock.

In 1157, Bernardine monks built the Balamand Abbey on a picturesque plateau off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea - a complex of buildings in the style characteristic of the order with elements of Provençal Gothic. At the end of the XIII century, the abbey fell into decline and was abandoned. And only in 1603 an Orthodox monastery was established in Balamand.

The monks rebuilt the Bernardine buildings. In the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, a new and carved wooden iconostasis is being created, the building of the Church of St. George and the monastery school are being built. The monastery owns a rich collection of Orthodox manuscripts, icons and church utensils.

In 1988, the University was established in Balamand, which became the largest secular educational institution in the region.