Saint Elias Maronite Church (Arabic: كنيسة مار الياس القنطاري, also known in French as Église Saint-Élie de Kantari) is a Maronite parish church located on Fakhreddine Street in the Kantari district of Beirut, Lebanon. Completed in 1907, it is considered the first Maronite parish church established in the Lebanese capital.[1] The sandstone building replaced an earlier, smaller church on the same site[2] and was heavily damaged during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) before being restored and re-inaugurated in 2002.[1] It sustained further damage in the 2020 Beirut port explosion.[3]
Location
The church stands on Fakhreddine Street in the Kantari neighbourhood of Beirut, situated west of the city's historic center. Kantari developed as a residential district during the late Ottoman period, as Beirut expanded beyond its old core following the administrative reorganization of the city in the second half of the nineteenth century.[4] The neighborhood lies close to what became, during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), the Green Line separating the city's eastern and western sectors, a proximity that contributed to the displacement of its Christian population and the deterioration of its religious buildings during the conflict.[5]
History
Origins and construction
The neighbourhood of Kantari developed rapidly during the late nineteenth century as Beirut expanded westward from its historic center during the late Ottoman period. By the early twentieth century, the area had become a significant residential and commercial district attracting the city's growing Maronite community.[4]
A small chapel dedicated to the prophet Elijah existed on the site as early as the eighteenth century, serving the Maronite community of the Minet el-Hosn district, which was receiving migrants primarily from the Kesrouan region of Mount Lebanon.[5] By the late nineteenth century the chapel had become too small for the growing parish.[5][2] Archbishop Joseph Debs (1833–1907), Maronite Archbishop of Beirut from 1872 until his death in 1907, commissioned the construction of a new church to replace it, entrusting the project to an unnamed Italian architect.[5] Construction was completed in 1907, as recorded by a commemorative plaque above the entrance doorway.[5] The church is listed in period surveys of the Maronite community's urban presence in Beirut alongside Saint-Maron at Saïfi (1874) and the archdiocese church of Saint Joseph (1878), representing the Maronite community's consolidation in the capital during the late Ottoman period.[4]
Political role
In the 1940s and 1950s the church served as the official parish of the former Lebanese presidential palace, which was then located in Kantari on rue Michel Chiha. Presidents Emile Eddé, Bechara El-Khoury and Camille Chamoun attended Sunday mass at Saint Elias during their respective terms.[5]
Civil War damage and 2001 restoration
During the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), the church, situated near the Green Line dividing the city, was largely abandoned as the Maronite population left the district. The building sustained serious damage: the sacristy was burned and subsequently demolished.[5] The church was described as having been "entirely ransacked" during the war years.[1]
Following the end of the civil war, restoration works were undertaken. The restoration, which began in 2001, involved stripping interior plaster to expose the yellow sandstone walls and arcades, installing a new bell, and rebuilding a three-storey annex on the north side to replace one destroyed during the war. The annex houses a ground-floor salon used for post-mass gatherings, a basement dining room, and an upper hall intended for cultural events and exhibitions.[5] On 20 July 2002, the feast day of Saint Elias, Paul Youssef Matar, Maronite Archbishop of Beirut, inaugurated the restored church and consecrated its new glass altar. In his homily, Archbishop Matar recalled that Saint Elias was the first Maronite parish church of the capital, and described the restoration as "a genuine act of faith in the return of Beirut to all its sons".[1] The restoration included stained-glass windows painted by French artist Jacques Guiton.[2]
2020 Beirut port explosion
The church was among the Maronite religious buildings damaged by the 2020 Beirut port explosion of 4 August 2020. It was listed among the three Maronite churches that had already been restored following civil-war damage and required rehabilitation again following the explosion, alongside the Cathedral of Saint George and the church of Saint-Maron at Saïfi.[3] The stained-glass windows of the church, including those installed during the 2001 restoration, were among those broken in the blast.[3]
Architecture
The church is built with yellow sandstone and red roof tiles, materials typical of late nineteenth-century Beirut.[6] The principal façade is neoclassical in character with an orientalizing inflection drawn from Italian ecclesiastical architecture. Three arched vaults define the entrance porch, while towers rise on either side of the façade: the northern tower serves as the bell tower and is the tallest element of the composition. The lateral façades are plainer, with pairs of bull's-eye circular openings arranged on each bay.[6]
The interior is a three-aisled basilica, the central nave separated from the lateral aisles by fourteen columns with sculpted capitals, made from the same material as the columns elements of the Roman temple of Deir el-Kalaa at Beit Mery.[6] The columns carry arcades at 5.70 meters, above which a gallery level at 6.50 meters runs along the side aisles. A second tier of arcades rises further to clerestory windows admitting light into the nave at over fourteen meters. The lateral aisles terminate in subsidiary altars flanking the high altar. The choir opens through a plain arch of 14 meters, above which two tall stained-glass lancets and a rose window are framed by bull's-eye openings on either side, forming the principal decorative elements of the east façade.[6]
In 2003 the stained-glass windows were commissioned from French master glazier Jacques Guitton, with the program completed in 2005. Guitton opted for a contemporary rather than historicist approach. The palette varies with orientation: denser colors face south and east where light is strongest, and more subdued tones face north. Guitton died shortly after completing the commission.[6] A subsequent addition above the entrance porch, comprising three floors of multipurpose rooms and residential accommodation overseen by architect Pierre Khoury, reduced the original interior light admitted through the façade window.[6]