Amatour
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Ammatour عمّاطور |
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|---|---|
| Municipality | |
Ammatour
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 Ammatour
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| Coordinates: 33°38′33″N 35°36′31″E / 33.64250°N 35.60861°ECoordinates: 33°38′33″N 35°36′31″E / 33.64250°N 35.60861°E | |
| Country |
 Lebanon
|
| Governorate | Mount Lebanon |
| District | Chouf |
| Highest elevation | 1,050 m (3,440 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 800 m (2,600 ft) |
| Time zone | +2 |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 (UTC) |
Ammatour (Arabic: عمّاطور) is a town and municipality in the Shouf (Al-Shouf) District in Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon. It lies 57 km southeast of Beirut, at an elevation of between 800 and 1,050 meters above sea level. The name "Ammatour" is derived from the words 'Ain Maa Tour', meaning the spring of the mountain. Among Lebanon's villages, Ammatour is one of Lebanon's richest in sources of water, with more than 365 springs, fountains, and a river located within its jurisdiction.
Politically and administratively, Ammatour was in 1711 declared one of the five "Special status" villages in Mount Lebanon, which were outside the control of any "iqta'" (feudal lordship). Instead, its inhabitants paid their land tax directly to the treasury of the office of the Ottoman governor of Mount Lebanon.
Ammatour occupies a significant religious position as the birthplace of five shuyukh uqqal (sing. sheikh aql), who serve as the religious leaders of the Druze community. Furthermore, the first Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the Middle East was anointed and appointed in Ammatour in 1724. In recent years, a descendant of a Melkite family from Ammatour, Bishop Joseph Gebara, was appointed the Melkite Catholic Bishop of São Paulo, Brazil. In 1927, the municipality of Ammatour was founded, and documented records indicate that the village had mayors since 1870.
Ammatour has about 5,000 registered residents made up of a Druze majority and a Christian minority consisting of Melkite Catholics and Maronites. Its communities have lived together in harmony for centuries. The largest and best known of its Druze families in Ammatour are Abou Chakra (also written as "Abu/Bou Shakra/Chakra") and Abdel Samad (also written "Abdul Samad"), both of which have played major political, economic and religious roles in Lebanon's history, particularly during the 19th century. The largest Christian families are Salem, Jebara (also written as "Gebara"), Lutaif and Bou Raad.
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