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From Chtaura, drive in the direction
of the Masnaa border post, turning at the sign for Manara - a
5.5-kilometer drive. At Manara (formerly called Hammara) you take
a rough road (four-wheel drive
vehicles) to the temple, set on a hillside. The drive takes about
fifteen minutes, or you can walk the distance in forty-five minutes.
Ask for directions in the town. Locally known as "Kasr al-Wadi,"
this is the site of a Roman shrine upon which a Christian church
was later constructed. The shrine, square in shape, consisted
of an altar surrounded by sixteen pillars and set inside a larger
enclosure. In style there is an apparent similarity with the temple
of Mashnaqa above Byblos.
When the church was built, the Greek dedicatory inscription to
Jupiter was reused as an architrave and a Maltese-like cross was
added. Note that the columns in the church (which has been reconstructed)
are thicker in the center than at the two ends. This device, used
by classical builders to make columns appear straight, here fails
in its purpose, partly because the columns are unusually short
and squat.
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