Anjar عنجر Անճար | |
|---|---|
 The cardo of the Umayyad city of Anjar | |
  Anjar Location in Lebanon | |
| Coordinates:33°43′33″N35°55′47″E / 33.72583°N 35.92972°E /33.72583; 35.92972 | |
| Country |  Lebanon |
| Governorate | Beqaa Governorate |
| District | Zahle District |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 |
| Official name | Anjar |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, iv |
| Designated | 1984(8thsession) |
| Reference no. | 293 |
| Region | Arab States |
Anjar (meaning "unresolved or running river";[1]Arabic:عنجر /ALA-LC:‘Anjar), also known asHawsh Mousa (Arabic:حوش موسى /Ḥawsh Mūsá), is a town ofLebanon, near theSyrian border, located in theBekaa Valley.[2] The population is 2,400,[3] consisting almost entirely ofArmenians. The total area is about twenty square kilometers (7.7 square miles). Since 1984, the ruins of theUmayyad settlement of Anjar have been recognized byUNESCO as aWorld Heritage Site.[4]
The town's foundation is generally attributed to theUmayyadcaliphal-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 chroniclerTheophanes the Confessor recorded that it was Walid's son,al-Abbas, who started building the town in 709–10.[5] HistorianJere L. Bacharach accepts Theophanes' date.[citation needed] Although earlier materials were re-used, much of the city is built on virgin soil.[5]
After being abandoned in later years, Anjar was resettled in 1939 with several thousand Armenian refugees from theMusa Dagh area. Its neighborhoods are named after the six villages of Musa Dagh: Haji Habibli, Kebusiyeh, Vakif, Kheder Bek, Yoghunoluk and Bitias.[6]
During the civil war, theSyrian Army chose Anjar as one of its main military bases in theBeqaa Valley and the headquarters of its intelligence services.[7]
Following the civil war, Anjar started to rebuild economically. Many of its inhabitants immigrated to other countries, mainly toEurope,Canada, and theUnited States. Nevertheless, today Anjar is an example to many other entities in the region because of its lowcrime rate[citation needed], reducedair pollution, and living standards. During the 2020COVID-19 pandemic, the village rapidly imposed strict measures and set an example for the rest of the country.[citation needed]
In November 2024,UNESCO gave Anjar enhanced protection to safeguard againstdamage to the archaeological site during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.[8]
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 onRoman city planning and architecture with stonework borrowed from theByzantines. Two large avenues, theCardo maximum, running north to south, and theDecumanus 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 underatetrapylon. The plinths, shafts andcapitals of the tetrapylon arespolia reused in the Umayyad period. Smaller streets subdivide the western half of the city in quarters of different size.[9]
Main monuments:
The majority of Anjar's Armenians are Armenian Apostolics (Orthodox) who belong to theArmenian Apostolic Church andHoly See of Cilicia.Armenian ApostolicSaint Paul Church is the second largest Armenian church in Lebanon.[10]
The Armenian Apostolic community has its own school, Haratch Calouste Gulbenkian Secondary School. In 1940, the chief editor of the Armenian newspaperHaratch 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 theCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation contributed to the expansion of the school, which was named in honor ofCalouste Gulbenkian.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
The municipality is also an important employer. It pays salaries for teachers,public servants, andlaw 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.[citation needed]
Most residents of Anjar are polyglots, speakingWestern Armenian,Lebanese Arabic, American English, and the Mousadaghian dialect of Armenian.
The Mousadaghian dialect was the spoken dialect of the Armenians of Sanjak. The Armenians of the region in different villages like Bitias, Haji hababli, Kheder Beg, Vakef, Kebusiye, Yoghun Olukh, in addition to several smaller villages used the Mousadaghian dialect which was called "Kistinek,” meaning "language of the Christians".[11]
Capital:Zahlé | ||
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