Travel Guide Yanouh

Aficionados of Roman temples can make a jump to the site of Yanouh, nestled in the high valley of the Nahr Ibrahim, which is reached from Qatarba, then Aabboud and Mghaira. One can visit the still imposing remains of a large Roman temple dating from the 2nd century built in bluish limestone and surrounded by a wall of yellow sandstone. Transformed into a church during the Byzantine period, it is now called Saint-Georges le Bleu because of its colour. This building has side doors and in the back wall, a niche that was supposed to house a statue.Around this site, there is a second small limestone temple, a Hellenistic period cult sandstone building, the ruins of a protobyzantine basilica with three naves, a medieval chapel from the 13th-14th century, oil and wine presses. Teams of Lebanese and French archaeologists from the University of Lyon are working to discover all the secrets of this site.