page_title: Harissa-Daraoun
section_title: Religious significance
hierarchical_section_title: Harissa-Daraoun / Our Lady of Lebanon / Religious significance
caption_attribution_description: English: Dar3oun Town From Harissa
context_page_description: Harissa-Daraoun is a municipality that consists of two villages, Harissa and Daraoun, in the Keserwan District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon. The municipality is located 27 km north of Beirut. Its average elevation is 550 meters above sea level and its total land area is 435 hectares. Harissa is accessible from the coastal city of Jounieh either by road or by a nine-minute journey by a gondola lift, known as the Téléphérique. Harissa is home to an important Lebanese pilgrimage site, Our Lady of Lebanon. It attracts both pilgrims and tourists who want to enjoy views of the bay of Jounieh.
  Daraoun contains three schools, one public and two private, that enrolled a total of 457 students as of 2008, while Harissa had one private school with 242 students during that same time period. There were eight companies with over five employees operating in Daraoun as of 2008, and two companies with over five employees in Harissa during that same period. Daraoun's inhabitants are predominantly Maronite Catholics, while Harissa has a mixed population of Melkite and Maronite Catholics.
context_section_description: The pilgrimage site there is a large, 15-ton bronze (and painted white) statue of Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of Lebanon or Notre Dame du Liban, with her arms stretched. The statue was made at the end of the 19th century and inaugurated in 1908, on land donated by the noble Maronite Khazen clan. Inside the statue's base, there is a small chapel. A huge Brutalist Maronite cathedral built of concrete and glass stands adjacent to the statue. It was completed in 1992, and has a height of 62 metres .
  Among other churches of various Christian denominations in the vicinity of Harissa are the Byzantine-style, Melkite Greek Catholic basilica of St. Paul, located south of the statue and built between 1948 and 1998, the Apostolic Nunciature (Papal Embassy), as well as the residences of four patriarchs of Eastern Catholic Churches.
  On 10 May 1997, Pope John Paul II visited Harissa. On 15 September 2012, Pope Benedict XVI visited Harissa, including a visit to Our Lady Of Lebanon.
caption: Daraoun Town From Harissa
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