Tannourine: A Beautiful Village Close to God

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• published: 01 Apr 2015
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Tannourine is a Lebanese municipality located in the Batroun District, part of the Mohafazah (Governorate) of North-Lebanon, 75 km from the capital Beirut. Tannourine is the plural of the Syriac word Tannour. A Tannour is an old stone oven used in ancient times. The very first settlers established a number of Tannours in Tannourine-Al-Fawqa, and later settled down the valley in Tannourine-Al-Tahta, where a more fertile landscape allowed local agriculture to thrive. Tannourine lies in a collection of valleys and ravines accessible either from Douma, a backroad from Bsharri or from a newly constructed highway direct from Batroun. The village also shares its name with a cedar forest of some 60,000 trees, making it the 2nd largest cedar reserve in Lebanon. The landscape overlooking the historic valley of Ain-Al-Raha is ideal for the culture of cedars, which grow in abundance. These cedars can be seen along the road that goes north to Hadath al-Jebbeh, which, although in poor condition, winds its way through wild and isolated scenery up to the Kadisha Valley gorge, leading to Bsharri. Other companion trees like Cupressus, Pinus, Abies, Populus and others constitute a very rich ecosystem in planter species. The fauna described as being present in this type of unique ecosystem range from the various types of birds (eagles, owls, robins, etc...) to wild animals (hyenas, boars, squirrels, snakes and bats).