| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Bsharri, North Governorate, Lebanon |
| Part of | Wadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab) Bsharri |
| Criteria | Cultural: (iii)(iv) |
| Reference | 850-002 |
| Inscription | 1998 (22nd Session) |
| Area | 10.2 ha (25 acres) |
| Buffer zone | 646 ha (1,600 acres) |
| Coordinates | 34°14′42″N 36°02′53″E / 34.24500°N 36.04806°E |
  Location of Cedars of God in Lebanon  Cedars of God (West and Central Asia) | |
The Cedars of God (Arabic: أرز الربّ Arz ar-Rabb "Cedars of the Lord"), located in the Kadisha Valley of Bsharre, Lebanon, is one of the last vestiges of the extensive forests of the Lebanon cedar that thrived across Mount Lebanon in antiquity. All early modern travelers' accounts of the wild cedars appear to refer to the ones in Bsharri;[1] the Christian monks of the monasteries in the Kadisha Valley venerated the trees for centuries. The earliest documented references of the Cedars of God are found in Tablets 4-6 of the great Epic of Gilgamesh, six days walk from Uruk.
The Phoenicians, Israelites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, and Turks used Lebanese timber. The Egyptians valued their timber for shipbuilding, and in the Ottoman Empire their timber was used to construct railways.[2]
- ^ Hepper 2001, p. 96.
- ^ "The Cedars". Retrieved 19 July 2016.