One of the most outstandingly beautiful churches I have ever visited… Saint Stephan Cathedral, I came across this amazing piece of architecture during my trip to Lebanon. This church being located in Lebanon overseeing the fisher port in a city called Batroun which is a coastal city in the North and one of the most beautiful cities in the country and definitely a must visit.

The architecture of this maronite cathedral of Saint Stephan ( Mar Stephan ) is a mix of byzantine and roman architecture and influenced by Gothic art. The minute I saw it, it reminded me of architectural examples that I had studied during my Bsc studies and it felt as if I was visiting a building in Italy only to find out later that actually the architect of this beautiful church is in fact an Italian architect named Giuseppe Maggiore, he was not only the mind behind this beautiful design but he also supervised its construction and it was built by Master-Mason “Metri Barbour”, builder of Saint-George church in downtown Beirut.

This beautiful church is a catholic maronate church, was built between 1900 and 1906 from sandstone from the same place that is Batroun, this church was built on the ruins of an old crusader church. I will include some pictures which I have taken throughout my visit to show the details of this beautiful architectural piece.

Interior Details

• The church consist of a main nave and two east-west wings separated by two rows of marble columns.
• The Vaulted callings and walls are made entirely of Batroun sandstone.

• Inside the the cathedral are two altars, one is named after ST.Stephan in the middle and another is named after the heart of Jesus to the north and the third is named after the virgin Mary to the south.

• In the sanctuary just above the main altar, stands a painting representing Saint-Stephan, by the Italian painter “Giosti”.

• The cathedral was inaugurated in 1906 under the patronage of patriarch Elias Howayek. In 1968, work for etching and engraving the walls was launched, and on December 15th, 1970 the cathedral acquired it’s current appearance.

The things that I personally loved about this church is the amazing architectural heritage and yet the simplicity of its construction, I loved the natural building material that was used, simple authentic beauty which made me feel at peace to the point that I did not want to leave and kept eyeing all the details around me in every stone. Everything about this church is simple, natural, unconstrained and yet very beautiful and impressive.

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XOXO

StylishMaze