JEITA CAVES

Note that it is unfortunately forbidden to film or photograph caves which are divided into two galleries. Once your ticket is in your pocket, a cable car takes you to the top gallery. A 21-minute documentary film on the history of the concretions and Grottes caves is distributed at the entrance to the upper gallery. There are only two French screenings per day (at and). Sometimes classical music concerts are given inside the caves. After the visit, a small tram will drop you at the entrance to the lower gallery.

The higher gallery was discovered only in 1958 by Lebanese speleologists and inaugurated in 1969. A concrete access tunnel, 117 m long, allows the visitor to discover, with surprise, a fantastic landscape: monumental vaults, piliers pillars, stalactites, skid of all sizes, fungi, drapery and diverses concretions. This upper part has a total length of 2 130 m, only 750 m of which is accessible to visitors on foot through a specially designed footbridge. The gallery is enlightened. The accessible part of the visitors is made up of three large rooms, some of which are more than 100 m high.

The lower gallery was discovered by chance in 1836 and opened to the public in 1958. This discovery is attributed to the Reverend William Thomson (an American missionary) who loves up to 50 m in a hunting game. During two expeditions in 1873 and 1874, American explorers entered up to 1 060 m. This gallery is traversed by an underground river which is the main source of Nahr el-Kelb providing drinking Water in Beirut. This cave has a total length of 7 800 m and is located 30 m below the top gallery. The river is divided into several small cataracts and rapids. Visitors are transported in small electric whale over a distance of 400 m. In winter, this gallery is closed because the water level is too high.