Dar al-Qamar

Deir al-Qamar lies in the Shuf mountains of Lebanon, its stone houses and palaces gathered around a central square. From the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries it served as a residence of the Ma'n and Shihab emirs, who governed the mountain districts under Ottoman sovereignty. Mosques, a synagogue and the houses of Christian and Druze inhabitants reflected the varied communities of the town.

Emir Fakhr al-Din II made Deir al-Qamar one of his principal residences and built a palace there in the early seventeenth century. After conflict with the Ottomans he spent several years in Tuscany, returning in 1618 before his eventual defeat and execution in 1635. Later Shihab rulers also resided in the town. Its workshops produced textiles, metalwork and soap for the surrounding villages, while the architecture of the emirs' houses combined local stone building with influences from elsewhere in the Mediterranean.