Forty-eight km from
Beirut stands this magnificent palace built at the beginning of the 19th
century by Emir Bechir, who reigned over Lebanon for more than 50 years.
With its arcades , galleries and rooms decorated by artists from Damascus,
this building is a model of eastern architecture. Today the palace houses
a museum of feudal weapons, costumes and jewelry as well as a new archeological
museum and a museum of Byzantine mosaic.