About
Notre Dame (السيدة) was built in the early 19th century, beginning in 1807. The poet Lamartine, who stayed in Hammana in 1833, mentions “the bells of two Maronite churches [which] jingled slowly through the tops of the cypresses, ringing in order to announce the pious ceremonies of the next day, which was a Sunday”. These are, most likely, the bells of Saint Romanos and Notre Dame, the only churches erected at the time. Surrounded in the middle by a row of darker stones to keep, it is said, the memory of the fire which devastated it in 1860, the church was restored in 1863 in the local architectural tradition with vaults and semicircular arches, and was endowed with a bell tower. The last restoration revealed the beauty of its bare stones. The church is dedicated to the cult of Notre Dame. The canvas above the altar depicts, in Western style, a Madonna and Child, as well as the statue on the church square.
