The Basilica of Our Lady of Lebanon

Abstract

Situated on the high Harissa Mountain at an altitude of 550m, in close proximity to Jounieh Bay, the Basilica of Our Lady of Lebanon is built with its form converging towards the iconic statue of Virgin Mary. Designed in the late 1960s by renowned Lebanese architect Pierre El Khoury, the imposing basilica is an innovative work of architecture, paralleling both local and international movements in its structural and organic manipulations of concrete. The basilica's construction was an enduring process, with geometrical and cultural challenges that extended well into the 1990s.