Jezzine

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Jezzine
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native_name = جزين
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subdivision_name1 = South Governorate
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subdivision_name2 = Jezzine District
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Jezzine (also spelled Jizzin) is a town in Lebanon, located 22 km (14 miles) from Sidon and 73 km (45 miles) south of Beirut. [http://www.jizzine.com/ Profile of Jezzine - Jezzine - Lebanon - jizzine.com ] ] Surrounded by mountain peaks, pine forests, and at an average altitude of 950 m (3,117 ft), it is the main summer resort and tourist destination of South Lebanon. The town is also famous in Lebanon for its production of handmade, traditional cutlery and daggers with decorative inlays as well as the shrine of Our Lady of the Waterfall.

Demography

The inhabitants of Jezzine are mainly followers of the Catholic Church (Maronite and Greek Melkite).

Culture

Festivals
*The Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is celebrated on August 15 of each year with grand religious and cultural festivities.
*The Jezzine Summer Festival where Lebanon's top pop artists perform attracts hundreds of people each summer.

Libraries
*The Jezzine Public Library was built in 1960 and underwent extensive refurbishment and reorganization in 2004.http://download.destinationlebanon.com/destleb/Itineraries/Itinerary%203/3-L%20Jezzine.pdf]

Theatres
*Empire Jezzine, the local movie theatre plays the latest Hollywood and Lebanese film hits.

Economy

Agriculture
*The production of pine nuts is the main agriculture product of Jezzine alongside grapes.

Handcrafts
*Jezzine is internationally renowned for its handcrafted knives and other cutlery, made of inlaid mosaics and bone. The unique cutlery has been presented as gifts to dignitaries all over the world as a unique memento of Lebanon. [http://www.lebanon-hotels.com/tourism/JEZZINE/ Jezzine Lebanon ] ]

Tourism
*Jezzine is South Lebanon's primary summer resort. It is rich in natural beauty, featuring pine-forested valleys and mountain summits, ponds, and waterfalls. The town is known as the “City of Falls” because of its famous waterfalls, the Jezzine Falls.

Environment

As part of its reforestation initiative, the municipality of Jezzine, in cooperation with the Coca-Cola company, planted a cedar forest on Mount Tumat. The new forest, which was inaugurated on April 10, 2007, consisted of 600 cedars of Lebanon, planted in rows in an area approximately 25,000 square meters and at an altitude of 1,700 meters. [ [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=20&article_id=81335 The Daily Star - Snapshots - Jezzine marks birth of new cedar forest ] ] At a 2km distance from Jezzine lies the village of Bkassine, which contains a thick pine forest. [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Bkassine: Pine is the Attraction | date= [2002-09-03] | publisher= | url =http://www.information-international.com/iimonthly/issue3/discover.html | work =Discover Lebanon | pages = | accessdate = 2008-06-04 | language = ]

History

The name, Jezzine, derives from the Aramaic (Syriac) word, meaning "depot" or "store". Many historians believe that Jezzine served as a storing location for traders because of its strategic location on the caravan route that connected the ancient port city of Sidon to the Chouf, the Beqaa Valley, and to Syria.

The town is rich in historic ruins, such as the Shakif Teron Fortress, the Marmaghieh Cemetery, the Ottoman Serail, which was built in 1898, as well as a number of old churches and monasteries, such as the Saint Antoine Convent, which was built in 1774.

The town is home to several historical residences, including the Farid Serhal Palace that houses an impressive collection of antiquities. Ancient Aramaic sarcophagi and Crusader remains were found in Jezzine. Another historic residence is the 400 year-old Kenaan Family Palace, located near the Serail.

In 1635, Lebanon's Renaissance Prince, Fakhreddin II, hid from the Ottoman authorities in one of Jezzine's caves where his father, Prince Qurqumaz had hidden and died. He abandoned the cave when the Ottomans poisoned its underground water supply. He fled over the dangerous mountain paths along the cliffside of Jezzine and hid at the foot of one of the waterfalls. [ [http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/900/910/919/jezzine/ Places in Lebanon - Jezzine ] ] The Ottomans eventually caught Fakhreddin II and took him to Istanbul where he was executed.

Landmarks

*Jezzine's Waterfalls, some as high as 90 m (295 ft)
*Our Lady of the Waterfall, a Marian shrine
*The Chir cliff that offers panoramic views of the forested mountains and one of Jezzine's waterfalls that drops 90 m over the cliff.
*The Grotto of Fakhreddin II

References