- HERITAGE & HISTORY
- RELIGIOUS TOURISM
- religious site
Harissa, Keserwan district
In 1783, the patriarch of the Syriac Catholics, Ignatios Mikhail Gerweh El-Halabi, arrived to Lebanon, escaping his persecutors in Baghdad. He took refuge in this monastery, which is the located in the town of Daroun, in the Kerserwan district, northeast of Beirut. Later on, he bought it and named it the Monastery of the Chair. The monastery began to enlarge. A clerical school was inaugurated in it in 1964. Today, it contains a library hosting manuscripts dating back to the Middle Ages and letters exchanged between the superior fathers in the monastery and the Holy See, the patriarchs, the princes, the ambassadors and councils. It also contains around 30,000 books related to religion, history, geography, and liturgy in Arabic, Syriac, Turkish, Persian and Latin. Some of them date back to the last two centuries. The monastery lost around 18 manuscripts, which were chosen by father Agustin Chiasca upon his visit in 1880. He took them to the Vatican library upon the approval of Patriarch Gerges Chalhat. Foreign orientalists and travelers visited the monastery in order to study and gain knowledge. They organized a training session for the bishops. They also supplied the library with material to preserve it from decay.