Dalhoun is a town in the Chouf area, Mount Lebanon. Chouf App is a utility app for Chouf-area residents — it connects Dalhoun with Chouf-based stores for shopping and with a directory of trusted local trades.
elevation ~427 m
Dalhoun is a Chouf-area settlement in Mount Lebanon.
The name appears as 'Dalhoum' in 19th-20th century documents. Folk tradition derives it from 'Deir al-Houmoum' (the monastery on the hill where the village was built on its ruins). Dr. Ahmad Younes suggested early inhabitants named it for a cross carved in a rock among the ruins. The author proposes the monastery's title was Syriac, giving the full meaning 'Deir al-Sour' (the monastery of the wall).
Dalhoun in the Iqlim al-Kharroub region of the Chouf is rich in antiquity: fifteen rock-cut wells, carved columns resembling those of the Chhim qasr church, Roman/Byzantine olive-press remains, a buried mosaic-floored temple at the site of a rock-carved cross, and many cave-and-sarcophagus tombs in which Roman-era pottery, coins, glass and skeletal remains were found. Folk tales speak of a secret tunnel linking old Dalhoun to the 'Chhim qasr'.
area ~180 ha
أبو علي، إسماعيل، بلبل، الحاج، خليل، سرحال، سعد، صالح، ضو، عمّار، قاسم، المعلم، ملك، منصور، نصر الدين، يونس
~39 km from Beirut · ~35 min drive
The town of Dalhoun is in the Chouf district of Mount Lebanon, Lebanon, at around 427 m elevation.
Dalhoun is about 39 km from Beirut, roughly a 35-minute drive.
The name appears as 'Dalhoum' in 19th-20th century documents. Folk tradition derives it from 'Deir al-Houmoum' (the monastery on the hill where the village was built on its ruins). Dr. Ahmad Younes suggested early inhabitants named it for a cross carved in a rock among the ruins. The author proposes the monastery's title was Syriac, giving the full meaning 'Deir al-Sour' (the monastery of the wall).
Families associated with Dalhoun include: أبو علي, إسماعيل, بلبل, الحاج, خليل, سرحال, سعد, صالح, ضو, عمّار, قاسم, المعلم, ملك, منصور, نصر الدين, يونس.
Notable people connected to Dalhoun include Omar Ali Ismail, Dr. Bashir Omar Ismail.
Dalhoun is one of the seventeen municipalities that form the Union of Municipalities of Iqlim El-Kharroub El-Chamali — the northern half of the Iqlim El-Kharroub belt of Chouf District. The union takes Mazboud as its seat and runs from Jiyeh and Rmaileh on the Mediterranean up to roughly 795 metres at Daraya and Aanout on its eastern, mountainous edge. Within the union, Dalhoun is the site of a mosque listed among the area's heritage buildings — a complement to the older Roman, Byzantine and rock-cut sites already known locally.
Source: UN-Habitat Lebanon (2023), A Road Map Towards a Socioeconomic Development Plan for the Union of Municipalities of Iqlim El-Kharroub El-Chamali, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.