Byblos - Lebanon

When I saw this card I realized immediately that it was from a UNESCO site but I didn't understand why I was receiving a postcard from Lebanon, it's not a country one often receives postcards from. Diana sent it as a prize for being the winner of the month of December. It was a wonderful surprise. 

Byblos, located on a cliff of sandstone 40 km North of Beirut, is one of the oldest cities in the world. Its ancient inhabitants did not call it Byblos, but rather "Jubla" and later "Jebal". Around 1200B.C. the Greeks named it Byblos or "Papyrus", because it traded in this product.

Continuously inhabited since Neolithic times, Byblos bears outstanding witness to the beginnings of the Phoenician civilization. The evolution of the town is evident in the structures that are scattered around the site, dating from the different periods, including the medieval town intra-muros, and antique dwellings. Byblos is a testimony to a history of uninterrupted construction from the first settlement by a community of fishermen dating back 8000 years, through the first town buildings, the monumental temples of the Bronze Age, to the Persian fortifications, the Roman road, Byzantine churches, the Crusade citadel and the Medieval and Ottoman town. Byblos is also directly associated with the history and diffusion of the Phoenician alphabet. The origin of our contemporary alphabet was discovered in Byblos with the most ancient Phoenician inscription carved on the sarcophagus of Ahiram. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

A beautiful Romanesque church, Eglise Saint Jean Marc is the cathedral church of Jbail-Byblos. The Church is dedicated to Saint Jean Mark, the patron saint of the town (...) The church itself was built in 1115 A.D by the Crusaders, originally as the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. After their departure, earthquakes, invasions and other disasters have repeatedly damaged the structure, and for a few centuries it remained disused. In 1764, Emir Youssef Chehab, of the Druze dynasty that ruled a semi- autonomous Lebanon under the Ottomans, donated the church to L’Ordre Libanais Maronite (Lebanese Maronite Order) which subsequently restored and reopened in 1776 after re-dedicating it to St Jean Marc. British bombardments of Lebanon in 1840 caused further damage, but the church was restored yet again. Eglise Saint Jean Marc continues to serve the Maronite Christian community. One interesting feature in the church is its open- air domed baptistery on the northern side which dates from the original construction in 1115 A.D, The church is situated on Rue de Port, between the port and the archaeological area. - in: https://www.jbail-byblos.gov.lb