exterior of Our Lady of the Wind Chapel, Church in Anfeh, Lebanon
Church
Landmark

Our Lady of the Wind Chapel

Anfeh

About this site

Our Lady of the Wind, known as Saydet el-Rih, is a small Byzantine-era chapel on Anfeh's rocky promontory in the Koura District, dated to around the 6th century and among the oldest churches in Lebanon dedicated to the Virgin. Its roof has long since collapsed, but its walls preserve faded frescoes of the Virgin calming a storm, flanked by Saints George and Demetrios, Christ Pantocrator, and two evangelists. Local tradition holds that Anfeh's sailors and fishermen built the chapel so the Virgin would protect them at sea. Archaeological excavations have since revealed earlier occupation layers beneath the chapel, including Iron Age cisterns. Surrounded by Anfeh's salt flats and turquoise coves, it stands on a peninsula continuously inhabited since the Phoenician era, and remains one of the region's most striking testaments to early Christian devotion by the sea.

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Our Lady of the Wind Chapel - Church in Anfeh | Lebanon Churches