Historical Overview

 

The ancient city of Tripoli, located on the Northern Lebanese coast, was founded by the Phoenicians (inhabitants of Sidon, Tyre and Arados Island) in the 9th century B.C. and was named 'Athar'. Thus, it became the capital of a Phoenician confederation which included Tyre, Sidon and Arados Island. Its residents excelled at shipbuilding, established a trading station and outrivaled others in trade development in the  Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

 

In the fourth century B.C, the Greeks dominated the city and called it “Tripolis”, meaning “triple city”. Following that and after killing the city’s Greek governor who announced mutiny against them, Romans took over the city.

 

In the 7th century A.D., Arabs entered the city and translated the name into Arabic and it became “ATripoli” that’s with ‘A’ (Hamza) at the beginning to distinguish it from West Tripoli. Then, the “A” was deleted and the name became “Tripoli “.During Umayyad rule, with the encouragement and help of Umayyad Khalifeh Abi Soufian, Tripoli became a commercial and shipbuilding center and  so it remained  for a long period; a well-fortified stronghold gaining the care and attention of Umayyad Khalafaa’ .

 

 In 750 A.D.,  the Abbaseyyen ruled Tripoli, and then it was taken over by Fatimid. Tripoli achieved its independence on the hands of Beni Ammar at the end of the 11th century A.D.. At that time, it flourished on both economic and scientific levels, and was known by Dar al-Ilm (House of Knowledge).

 

At the beginning of the 12th century A.D. the city fell into the hands of  the Crusaders. Moreover, the naval  city was subject to two horrible Earthquakes that destroyed it. Thus, it was rebuilt and became a LatinEpiscopal center.

 

At that time, crusaders built Sinjil Castle on the Pilgrims Mountain, 3kms away from the coast. They fortified the naval city by building a wall around it. Some of the said wall remains were still there up till a short while before the accomplishment of the sea side-walk at the end of the 20th century.

 

The crusaders ruled the city for 180 years, after which it was taken over by Al Mamleek in 1289. Al Mamaleek demolished the old port part of the city and built a new inland city at the foot of Sinjil Castle which they rebuilt after some parts of it were destroyed during their siege to the city. During Mamaleek era, Tripoli witnessed construction and economic growth until 1516.

 

In 1516, the city fell to Ottoman and was Headquarters to a wide province up till 1920 when the state of Greater Lebanon was announced.

 

 

 

Cultural Heritage

 

 

 

When Tripoli fell to Al Mamaleek under the command of Sultan  Mansour Qalawun,  they planned for the construction of a complete city  that resembles their capital Cairo. Accordingly, they used the destroyed old city’s stones to build the new – city’s facilities. Their first steps included building new parts at the castle on “Pilgrims’ ” Mountain. They built theGrand Mansouri Mosque, named so after the conqueror that was considered the center point around which constructions were evenly spread.

 

They established a straight market that crossed the city from south to north. The market was full of different kinds of products, goods and crafts which were grouped but not mixed in certain neighborhoods or khans.

 

They also took care of sanitation and health. Thus, they made sure to separate among different crafts, khans and souks so that each craft has its separate market.

 

Houses were spread over the near neighborhoods of the main market (Souk), always starting from the Grand Mosque.Buildings were constructed of two floors.

 

Al Mamaleek were so  much concerned about the city’s security to the extent that they established seven huge gates made of good wood and iron, which they used to close  at night and open at dawn.

 

 

 

Various facilities just as mosques, madaress (religious schools),hammams( bathrooms), motels and drinking fountains were found inside the city. However, Interior khans (markets ) of Tripoli were established ina narrow and zig-zag design  to provide the highest possible level of security and defense for the public neighborhoods in case they were subject to any enemy violations.

 

 

 

On the other hand, it is clearly noticed that no two houses in the above mentioned inhabited neighborhood have their main entrance doors facing each other, not to allow the inhabitants in one house to see  those in the second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between Old and New

 

 

 

At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the last century, citizens of Tripoli benefited from Al Ottoman constitutional reforms. Thus, they left the scope of the old city to live next to the “Sand hill,” located outside the city’s gates to the west side. At that square, known afterwards by “Hill Square,” Ottoman built the government Serial which survived for about 50 years.

 

 

 

Later, the Serial was demolished in the sixties of the 20th century.

 

 

 

To mark the anniversary of Abed Al Hamid the Second, ruler of Al Asitana, the Hill Clock was founded. That event was accompanied by establishing a railway station which provided commuting towards the port. Roads were opened and paved.

 

 

 

All the above mentioned activities and events drove some of the city’s wealthy citizens to invest in the new-established region. Thus, they built luxurious buildings; most of them were built according to the Ottomani or Italian style. Also, banks, hotels and restaurants were built as well as some foreign consulates.

 

 

 

However, prosperity and comfort didn’t last for long because First World War broke out.

 

The Catastrophe...

 

Yet, the biggest catastrophe took place at the end of 1955 which was known by Abi Ali’s river flood.

 

That year in that unfortunate night, it rained heavily and closed the river’s water cross which was passing   amid the city dividing it into two parts.

 

Water gathered next to the old castle and exploded into the streets, public neighborhoods and reached the door steps of the new -established city destroying in its way bridges, old buildings and causing the death of dozens of people.

 

 Instead of taking well -studied measures, authorities gave an order to destroy a lot of buildings that face the river’s water-cross in order to widen it and open a road that crosses the old city. Thus, some markets, traditional crafts and some valuable cultural and historical landmarks ceased to exist forever.

 

 

 

 National News Agency Bureau – Tripoli