The Monastery of the Virgin in Kaftun

Kaftun is a small village in northern Lebanon. In ancient Aramaic, the name of the village means "carved into the rock", in Syriac, the same word means "dome". Both variants of the origin of the name indicate a unique monastery of the Virgin, located near the village on the banks of the river Jeuz.

The premises of this ancient Orthodox monastery, first mentioned in the annals of the XII century, are located in man-made caves carved in red limestone. About fifteen nuns live in the monastery. The main attraction of the monastery is the Byzantine bilateral icon of the eleventh century. On one side of the icon is depicted the Virgin with the baby Jesus, on the other scene of the baptism of Christ. They say that once the icon was stolen, but the robber in a dream appeared the Virgin, and he repented and returned the icon to the monastery.

Not far from the monastery are the ruins of the Basilica of Saints Sergius and Bacchus built in the VI century, with partially preserved frescoes. The nuns in the basilica carry out archaeological and restoration work.