Gallery
Description
Property Name: Umayyad City Ruins – Aanjar
Inventory No: 961-8-1
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2008-02-04
Country (State party): Lebanon
Province: Beqaa
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 33° 44′ 33″ N
35° 55′ 47″ E
Historic Period: 8th century, 1st half
Year of Construction: at the beginning of the 8th century
Style: Umayyad
Original Use: Residential
Current Use: Archeological & Museum
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The city of Aanjar was founded by Caliph Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century. The ruins reveal a very regular layout, reminiscent of the palace-cities of ancient times, and are a unique testimony to city planning under the Umayyads.
Selection Criteria
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
iv. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history
State of Preservation
Thus far, most of Aanjar has been excavated with some restoration initiatives, including one of the tetrapylons, and the southern half of the great palace. However, continued excavation is necessary to uncover the vast remains of a substantial residential section to the southwest of the site.
The city of Aanjar was founded by Caliph Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century. Aanjar was never completed, enjoying only a brief existence. Vestiges of the city of Aanjar therefore constitute a unique example of 8th century town planning. The site of this ancient city was only discovered by archaeologists at the end of the 1940s.
The ruins have been recognized as a World Heritage Site. İn 1984.
References
Salam-Liebich, Hayat. The Architecture of the Mamluk City of Tripoli, The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1983.
Tadmuri, Omar Abdel Salam; Salame-Sarkis, Hassan. Tripoli the Old City: monuments survey-mosques and madrasas: a sourcebook of maps and architectural drawings.
Website of Archnet, http://archnet.org
The Tripoli Internet Database, http://tripoli-city.org