Kfar Chleymane Explained

Kfar Chleymane
Native Name:كفر شليمان
Native Name Lang:ara
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Lebanon
Pushpin Map Alt:Map showing the location of Kfar Chleiman within Lebanon
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Lebanon
Coordinates:34.2328°N 35.7744°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:North Governorate
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Batroun District
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone1:EET
Utc Offset1:+2
Timezone1 Dst:EEST
Utc Offset1 Dst:+3
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Area Code Type:Dialing code
Area Code:+961

Kfar Chleymane (Arabic: كفر شليمان), also Kfarchleiman, is a small village of the Batroun District in the north of Lebanon located 16 km from Batroun and 69 km from Beirut.

Etymology

According to Anis Freiha's "A Dictionary of the Names of Towns and Villages in Lebanon", Kfar Chleymane comes from Syriac and means The Village of Sleiman.

Demographics

Kfar Chleimane's population is Maronite Christian and consists of member of only one family (Bassil) which is believed to originate from Dunnieh in Tripoli.

Church

The Our Lady of Naya church is the only one in Kfar Chleymane and is known for its 12th century vestige. Frescoes representing the Christ or other Christian scenes can be found in a little cave carved in the stone under the church. Parts of the frescoes were burnt by mistake before their historical importance was discovered. Moreover, the stones around the church are carved into stairs that can also be dated to the 12th century.

Legend

An ancient legend says that under the soil of the church exists a hidden convent, but nobody knows if those legends are true and no researches were ever led.