Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab)
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How it came to be
The Qadisha Valley is a deep gorge in northern Lebanon at the foot of Mount Makmel, carrying the Holy River mentioned in the Scriptures. For centuries its cliffs served as places of meditation and refuge, and monks, hermits and villagers cut caves into the slopes to live in. It is regarded as the heart of the Maronite hermit tradition.
The Monastery of St Anthony of Qozhaya appears in records from around 1000. In 1268 the Mamluk sultan Baibars, and in 1283 Sultan Qalawun, campaigned against the valley's caves, monasteries and villages. The monasteries carried on, and from the 15th century Qannoubine served as the seat of the Maronite Patriarch for about 500 years.
A printing press was set up at Qozhaya in 1585, and in 1610 it printed a Psalter in Syriac. East of the valley, at 1,900 to 2,050 m, the Forest of the Cedars of God is the last remnant of the ancient forests of Lebanon cedar, prized in antiquity for temple building. The valley and forest were inscribed in 1998.
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