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Site Seeing > Historical Sites > Deir el Qualaa & Zubaida Aqueduct
Deir el Qalaa
Deir el Qalaa, located near the village of Beit Meri in the mountains 15km east
of Beirut, is a Roman temple complex and Byzantine residential-industrial
complex built on a promontory 800 meters above sea level. The name Deir (meaning
“monastery” in Arabic) refers to the fact that a monastery was built at this
site by Maronite monks during the 18th century. The monastery was built over a
Roman temple dating back to the first century A.D. This temple is considered to
be the third largest Roman temple in Lebanon, after the Baalbek and Niha
temples.
Aqueduct of Zubaida
The name of Beirut means "the city of wells," which refers to the large number
of wells spread throughout the city to supply water to its inhabitants. With the
expanding urbanization during the Roman period, the demand for running water
grew dramatically, and the existing wells and springs were not large enough to
accommodate the growing demand. The solution was to get water from one of the
springs located along the Beirut River. The nearest spring was the Daychouniyeh
source, situated 20km southeast of Beirut. To transport this water to Beirut,
the Roman architects built a water channel. An aqueduct, which was built over an
arched, bridge-like structure known today as the Aqueduct of Zubaida, or
"Qanater Zubaida," was built to transfer the water across the Beirut River to
channel it onward to Beirut.