Welcome to Lebanon
Jounieh A Charming City
Jounieh (Arabic جونيه, or Junia, جونية) is
a Mediterranean coastal city about 15 kilometers north of Beirut,
Lebanon. It is known for its seaside resorts and nightclubs, as well as
its old stone souk, ferry, and cablecar (le téléphérique), which takes
passengers up the mountain to the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in
Harissa. Above Jounieh, and on the way to Harissa, a small hill named
Bkerke (Arabic بكركي, or Bkerki), overlooking the Jounieh bay, is the
seat of the Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church. Its inhabitants
are predominantly Maronite and it's thus known to be the largest
Maronite city in the world.
The city's commercial port was attacked by air on July 15th 2006 by the
Israeli airforce as part of the 2006 Lebanon War but the damage was
negligible.
History
In the sixth part of The Introduction to Jounieh in the Mid Nineteenth
Century, Professor Butrus Al-Boustani said: “Jounieh is a place on the
Keserwan coast which has warehouses, stores, and a dye house. Ships and
boats bring supplies and its grain trade is very popular. Thus a
district of the following villages: Sarba, Ghadir, and Harat Sakhr was
named for it. Its total population is 2,500. Jounieh itself is not a
residential area but mainly a commercial district whose workers come
from neighboring towns.”
Jounieh was connected with neighboring areas by roads built for
carriages. So it was connected with Bikirki and beyond it during the
rule of Dawud Basha, the ruler of Mount Lebanon. It was connected to
Ghazir between 1867 and 1868 despite the objection of Ghazir’s
residents. Another road connected Jounieh to the Beirut Bridge during
the rule of Rustum Basha. To the north it was connected by a carriage’s
road until Batroun during the rule of Wasa Basha (1883-1892). In 1892,
Jounieh was connected to Beirut via a railroad that had stations between
the two locations, three of which in Jounieh and its environs: Sarba,
Jounieh, and Mu’amilitain at the end of the line, which facilitated the
transportation of goods and passengers from and to the Governorate of
Beirut. In 1876, the number of shops exceeded 300, five silk factories,
three rest houses, a mill, three juice factories, an artificial ice
factory, a bank known by its owner's name "Bank Baghos", and a group of
small sailboat construction sites.
In 1906, according to the Guide to Lebanon by Ibrahim Beik Al-Soud, the
population of Jounieh was 2,400, and it had a silk factory owned by the
Nasras, a silkworms choker owned by Moussa de Franj, a silk factory
owned by the heirs of Rizkallah and Abdul Ahad Khadra which had 190
wheels and produced 10,000 cocoons, 330 domestic animals, and owned 80
carriages.
According to the records of the Kiserwan Governorate, the town of Ghadir,
in 1914, had 433 corporations and its population was 1,263. The town of
Sarba had 213 commercial institutions and its population was 1,714. In
Harat Sakhr, there were 165 corporations and its population was 808. In
Sahil ‘Alma, there were 21 corporations its population reached 187.
Jounieh had seen noticeable prosperity after France and the Maronite
Patriarchy supported the opening a port for commercial ships which
became (with the Al-Nabi Younes Port on the Chouf Coast) the official
port of Mount Lebanon.
In 1913 and during the Mandate era, Jounieh suffered economic decline
and recession as the French administration moved part of Jounieh’s
administrative role to the Capital, Beirut. Also Jounieh came out of the
First World War weakened by famine and economic stagnation. So several
of its inhabitants were forced to move to the capital or to immigrate,
and Jounieh lost most of its expertise. Its social and population
development stopped, and its economic development weakened. The 1932
statistics showed 1,286 housed in Jounieh: 371 in Sarba, 434 in Ghadir,
350 houses in Harat Sakhr, and 131 in Sahil ‘Alma. This affected the
building industry and records in the town hall showed very limited
number of permits given from 1922-1940. The only active sectors in that
period were schools, small crafts, and planting of citrus trees, sugar
cane, and vegetables. This situation stayed the same until the rule of
President Fouad Shihab who outfitted the city with all that it needed to
become modern. Jounieh then awakened from its slumber with projects for
roads, lighting, modern planning, a stadium, a tourist port, a
government house, and infrastructure. President Shihab used a number of
experts and engineers headed by the French engineer Ekochar. The talk
became of “Monte Carlo of the East” and Jounieh stood out as a bride of
the Lebanese coast. In 1959, it started to attract banks, the first
which were the Lebanese Commerce Bank and the Lebanese Federal Bank. By
1975 the number of banks reached six and today there are 38 banks in
addition to the Lebanese Central Bank which was established in 1879
The area also witnessed an increase in the price of land from an average
of seven to nine Lebanese pounds per square meter between 1950 and 1960
to an average of 25 to 35 Lebanese pounds in 1965.
The construction sector developed slowly starting from Sarba to Harat
Sakhr, and finally the coast of ‘Alma. The buildings also started
expanding around the city as the agricultural sector contracted and
became confined to the coasts of Kaslik and some orchards in Ghadir,
Harat Sakhr and the coast of ‘Alma. In the beginning of the seventies,
Jounieh was transformed to a major and complete tourist center with the
tourist network around it and on its edges including: Casino du Liban,
the cable cars, the Harisa Church, the caverns in Jeita, restaurants,
hotels, nightclubs, and the port.
With the war of 1975, and the division of Beirut into East and West
parts and the escalation of the violence, many people fled to safe areas
and were organizing their lives in accordance with the new realities.
From 1980 to 1990, Jounieh witnessed a massive migration as a large
number of the Beirut traders moved to its markets. Buildings took over
its green spaces, and the tourist complexes took over its shores. So its
features changed randomly though it benefited from the use of the
tourist port for commerce.
In 1990, when fighting stopped, Jounieh was no longer a small city where
the humming of water is heard, and houses with red-tiled roofs are
surrounded by dreamy orchards but it became a coastal city crowded with
people in forests of cement without a beach for the waves to spread.
Jounieh in the beginning of the twenty first century looks reasonably
and confidently ahead, leaving behind it memories of a century in which
it expanded before its time.
Now, around 18 thousand voters live in Jounieh. Those who live in its
towns and suburbs exceed 200,000. By the middle of the century, Jounieh
will become a suburb of Beirut in a costal line that forms one city that
expands the length of the coastal road at a time when the inhabitants of
Lebanon will reach six million around the year 2025
Tourism
Casino du Liban
Main article: Casino du Liban
Casino du Liban offers gaming and shows and is located in the northern
part of Jouniyeh
Lebanese Heritage Museum
Main article: Lebanese Heritage Museum
Lebanese Heritage Museum displays items related to the culture and
history of Lebanon
Téléphérique
The téléphérique is a gondola lift that operates between Jounieh and
Harissa. It offers the passengers beautiful panoramic views of the bay
of Jounieh and the coast all the way to Beirut.