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Anjar عنجر Անճար
The cardo of the Umayyad city of Anjar
AnjarLocation in Lebanon
Coordinates: 33°43′33″N 35°55′47″E / 33.72583°N 35.92972°E / 33.72583; 35.92972
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Beqaa Governorate
District	Zahle District
Government
• Mayor	Vartkes Khoshian
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	+3
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Anjar
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv
Designated	1984 (8th session)
Reference no.	293
Region	Arab States

Anjar (meaning "unresolved or running river"); Arabic: عنجر / ALA-LC: ‘Anjar; also known as Hawsh Mousa (Arabic: حوش موسى / Ḥawsh Mūsá), is a town of Lebanon, near the Syrian border, located in the Bekaa Valley. The population is 2,400, consisting almost entirely of Armenians. The total area is about twenty square kilometers (7.7 square miles). Since 1984, the ruins of the Umayyad settlement of Anjar are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

History

The town's foundation is generally attributed to the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I, at the beginning of the 8th century, as a palace-city. Syriac graffiti found in the quarry from which the best stone was extracted offer the year 714, and Byzantine and Syriac sources attribute the establishment of the town to Umayyad princes, with one Syriac chronicle mentioning Walid I by name, while the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor recorded that it was Walid's son, al-Abbas, who started building the town in 709–10. Historian Jere L. Bacharach accepts Theophanes' date. Although earlier materials were re-used, much of the city is built on virgin soil.

After being abandoned in later years, Anjar was resettled in 1939 with several thousand Armenian refugees from the Musa Dagh area. Its neighborhoods are named after the six villages of Musa Dagh: Haji Habibli, Kebusiyeh, Vakif, Kheder Bek, Yoghunoluk and Bitias.

During the civil war, the Syrian Army chose Anjar as one of its main military bases in the Beqaa Valley and the headquarters of its intelligence services.

Following the civil war, Anjar started to rebuild economically. Many of its inhabitants immigrated to other countries, mainly to Europe, Canada, and the United States. Nevertheless, today Anjar is an example to many other entities in the region because of its low crime rate, reduced air pollution, and living standards. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the village rapidly imposed strict measures and set an example for the rest of the country.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Umayyad city ruins cover 114,000 square meters and are surrounded by large, fortified stone walls over two meters thick and seven meters high. The rectangular city design of 370 m by 310 m is based on Roman city planning and architecture with stonework borrowed from the Byzantines. Two large avenues, the Cardo maximum, running north to south, and the Decumanus Maximus, running east to west, divide the city into four quadrants. The two main avenues, decorated with colonnades and flanked by about 600 shops, intersect under a tetrapylon. The plinths, shafts and capitals of the tetrapylon are spolia reused in the Umayyad period. Smaller streets subdivide the western half of the city in quarters of different size.

Main monuments:

• The partially rebuilt Grand Palace, 59 m by 70 m, includes a wall and is preceded by a series of arcades. Its central hosh (courtyard) is surrounded by a peristyle.
• The almost square Small Palace, 46 m by 47 m, stands out for its numerous ornamental fragments and its richly decorated central entrance.
• A Mosque, 45 m by 32 m, is located between the two palaces.
• Thermal baths, built on the Roman model.

Demographics

The majority of Anjar's Armenians are Armenian Apostolics (Orthodox) who belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church and Holy See of Cilicia. Armenian Apostolic Saint Paul Church is the second largest Armenian church in Lebanon.

The Armenian Apostolic community has its own school, Haratch Calouste Gulbenkian Secondary School. In 1940, the chief editor of the Armenian newspaper Haratch in Paris, Shavarsh Missakian, organized a fundraising campaign among the Armenians living in France which enabled the building of the "Haratch" Elementary School next to the newly established St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church. The official opening of the school took place in 1941. The administration of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation contributed to the expansion of the school, which was named in honor of Calouste Gulbenkian.

Our Lady of the Rosary Armenian Catholic Church in Anjar serves as church for the Armenian Catholics, who also run the Armenian Catholic Sisters School. In the beginning, the school had two divisions, St. Hovsep for the male students and Sisters of Immaculate Conception for the female students. In 1954, these departments were united. 1973 saw the official opening of the Aghajanian Orphan House, already serving as an Armenian Catholic orphanage since 1968.

The Armenian Evangelical Church of Anjar is in operation to serve Anjar's small Armenian Evangelical community. The Protestant community school was established in 1948 by Sister Hedwig Aenishänslein as part of her missionary work in Anjar. In 1953, the school, which had already become an intermediate school, was promoted into a secondary school. It has day classes as well as boarding facilities for students from other regions who stay there throughout the winter.

Economy

Anjar's economy is mostly based on services, with very few agricultural and industrial activities. The biggest private employer is the company "Shams" (literally "Sun"), a local family-run business that started out as a small restaurant in the 1960s.

The municipality is also an important employer. It pays salaries for teachers, public servants, and law enforcement personnel. Unlike the rest of the country, where policing is provided by the central government, Anjar has its own municipal police wearing dark green uniforms and reporting to the municipality instead of the ministry of internal affairs. t

See also

• Armenians in Lebanon
• Franco-Armenian relations
• List of Armenian ethnic enclaves
• Battle of Anjar
• 8th century in Lebanon

Gallery

• Arches and columns
• View of site, Anjar
• The Grand Palace
• The tetrapylon, Anjar
• External wall of the Grand Palace, Anjar.
• Armenian St. Poghos Church in Anjar (interior view)
• Armenian Catholic Church in Anjar
• A view of the city

References

1. AlSulaiti, Fatema. "Anjar". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
2. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 1990 An Annual Review of Developments and the Bush Administration's Policy on Human Rights Worldwide January 1991. Human Rights Watch.
3. ANJAR: Demographics
4. "Anjar". UNESCO. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
5. ^ Hillenbrand, Robert (1999). "Anjar and Early Islamic Urbanism". In G. P. Brogiolo and B. Ward-Perkins (ed.). The Idea and Ideal of the Town Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. BRILL. pp. 59–98 . Retrieved 9 May 2021.
6. Shemmassian, Vahram. "The Settlement of Musa Dagh Armenians in Anjar, Lebanon, 1939-1941". Asbarez. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
7. Kevorkian, Noura. "Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes". YouTube. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
8. The archaeological site of Anjar
9. Musa Dagh Memorial in Anjar, Lebanon

Bibliography

• Bacharach, Jere L. (1996). "Marwanid Umayyad Building Activities: Speculations on Patronage". In Necipoğlu, Gülru (ed.). Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Vol. 13. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 27–44. ISBN 90-04-10633-2.

External links

• Official Website of Anjar
• Anjar, Archnet Digital Library.
• Website about Anjar
• Lebanon, the Cedars' Land: Anjar
• Ya Libnan | Lebanon News | Spotlight on Anjar
• Photos of Anjar ruins

v t e Zahle District, Beqaa Governorate
Capital: Zahlé
Towns and villages	Ablah Ain Kfar Zabad Ali an Nahri Anjar Barelias Bouarej Chtaura Deir El Ghazal Ferzol Jdita Kafr Zabad Karak Nuh Majdal Anjar Makseh Nabi Ayla Niha Bekaa Qâa er Rîm Qabb Ilyas (=Kabelias) Rayak Saadnayel Taanayel Taalabaya Terbol Zahlé
Other	Aammiq Wetland Hosn Niha Our Lady of Bekaa

v t e World Heritage Sites in Lebanon
Anjar Baalbek Byblos Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab) Rachid Karami International Fair–Tripoli Tyre

v t e Archaeological sites in Lebanon

Aadloun Aaiha Aammiq Aaqbe Ain Aata Ain Choaab Ain Harcha Akbiyeh Akkar plain foothills Al-Bireh Amioun Amlaq Qatih Anjar, Lebanon Antelias cave Apheca Ard Saouda Ard Tlaili Arqa Augusti Pagus Baalbek Baidar ech Chamout Batroumine Batroun Bechamoun Beirut Beit Mery Belat temple Berytus (Roman Beirut) Bustan Birke Byblos Canalizations of Zenobia Dahr El Ahmar Dakoue Deir El Aachayer Deir Al-Ahmar Deir Mar Maroun Dekwaneh Douris (Baalbek) Elaea (Lebanon) Flaoui Fadous Sud Hebbariye Hadeth south Haret ech Cheikh Hashbai Heliopolis in Phoenicia Hermel plains Iaat Jabal es Saaïdé Jbaa Jdeideh Jebel Aabeby Jeita Grotto Joub Jannine Jieh Kafr Zabad Kamid el-Loz Kamouh el Hermel Karak Nuh Kaukaba Kefraya Kafr Tebnit Kfar Qouq Kfarhata Khallet Michte Kharayeb Khirbet El-Knese Kouachra megalith field Ksar Akil Labweh Lake Qaraoun (Ain Jaouze) Libbaya Lion Tower Majdal Anjar Mansourieh Maronite mummies Mayrouba Mdoukha (Jebel Kassir) Moukhtara Mtaileb Nabi Zair Nachcharini Nahle, Lebanon Neba'a Faour Nebi Safa Hosn Niha Phoenician port of Beirut Plain of Zgharta Qaa Qal'at Bustra Qalaat Tannour Qaraoun Qasr el Banat Ras Baalbek I Ras Beirut Ras El Kelb Rashaya Roman Forum of Berytus Roman hippodrome of Berytus Roman temple of Bziza Sands of Beirut Saraain El Faouqa Shheem Sidon Sin el Fil Sarepta Stone of the Pregnant Woman Tahun ben Aissa Taire Tayibe Tell Aalaq Tell Ablah Tell Addus Tell Ahle Tell Ain Cerif Tell Ain el Meten Tell Ain Ghessali Tell Ain Nfaikh Tell Ain Saouda Tell Ain Sofar Tell Ayoub Tell Bar Elias Tell Beshara Tell Bir Dakoue Tell Deir Tell Delhamieh Tell Derzenoun Tell Dibbine Tell el-Burak Tell El Ghassil Tell El Hadeth Tell Fadous Tell Hazzine Tell Hoch Rafqa Tell Karmita Tell Khardane Tell Kirri Tell Jezireh Tell Jisr Tell Kabb Elias Tell Majdaloun Tell Masoud Tell Mekhada Tell Meouchi Tell Mureibit Tell Murtafa Tell Nahariyah Tell Neba'a Chaate Tell Neba'a Litani Tell Qasr Labwe Tell Rasm El Hadeth Tell Rayak Tell Saatiya Tell Safiyeh Tell Saoudhi Tell Serhan Tell Shaikh Hassan al Rai Tell Shamsine Tell Sultan Yakoub Tell Taalabaya Tell Wardeen Tell Zenoub Tell Zeitoun Temnin el-Foka Temple of Bacchus Temple of Eshmun Temple of Jupiter Temple of the Obelisks Toron Tripolis (region of Phoenicia) Tyre Necropolis Tyre Umm al-Amad Wadi Koura Wadi Yaroun Yammoune Yanta Ain W Zain Zahlé

• Populated places in Zahlé District
• Populated places in Lebanon
• Archaeological sites in Lebanon
• World Heritage Sites in Lebanon
• Armenian communities in Lebanon
• Former populated places in Lebanon
• Arabic architecture
• Umayyad palaces
• Tourist attractions in Lebanon
• 8th-century establishments in the Umayyad Caliphate