The palace of Beit-eddine in the Chouf mountains of Lebanon was built by Prince Bashir Shihab II in the period between 1788 and 1818. It was to be his residence until 1840. Afterwards the building was used by the Ottoman authorities as the government residence. Later, under the French Mandate following World War I, it was used for local administrative purposes.

The General Directorate of Antiquities restored the palace after it was declared a historic monument in 1934. When Lebanon obtained its independence in 1943, the palace became the summer residence of the president of the Lebanese republic.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 4:42 am and is filed under Culture, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.