St Maron Monastery

The St Maron Monastery in Annaya is located 17 km from Jbeil, up in the mountains, at an altitude of 1200 m above sea level. The first monastery’s built structures were erected in 1828, while the church volume was added around 10 years later, between 1838 and 1841. Another church was later added, after St Charbel was declared blessed in 1965.  

The actual final building’s volume takes the typical squarish shape (45 m x 45 m) of the Maronite monasteries of the XIXth c. with their internal squarish cloister, surrounded, on one side by the church and, on the other sides by various functional rooms and porticoes. Its structure is built with quarried limestone blocks arranged following regular courses covered with terraced roofs except for the northern volume, built over two floors and covered with a double pitched red tiled roof. 

The modern church, added in 1965, takes a totally different shape, with a centralized circular volume around which revolves triangular shaped other ones. This centralized disposition reminds of the Byzantine period martyr, which used to be built to commemorate a Christian saint or martyr of the first centuries of the Christianity. A polygonal shaped high bell tower is placed on the north-western side of that church.  

• Route : Maronite major spiritual
• Village : Annaya