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.