The Construction of the Houses in Anjar
Anjar is the only village of the Bekaa plain that was planned and constructed based on carefully prepared maps. The village has the shape of a soaring eagle with extended wings. The master civil engineer was Hagop Keshishian having, Apraham Der Kazandjian, as assistant.
Anjar has a strategic location. It is equidistant from two Arab capitals Beirut and Damascus. Only approximately 50 km distance separates the village from any of the cities. The main Beirut-Damascus road passes through the land of Anjar.
The total area of Anjar is 1800 Hectars (18 km2). It is at an altitude of 850 m from sea level. The climate is dry with hot summers and cold winters.
The total area allocated for housing is 98 Hectars. The rest of the area is for agriculture. Anjar (known as Housh Moussa) was planned to have six adjacent sections in one village.
- Yoghoun Olouk 975 inhabitants
- Khoder Beg 936 inhabitants
- Kabousieh 950 inhabitants
- Bitias 870 inhabitants
- Haji hababli 870 inhabitants
- Vakif 538 inhabitants
All the six sections of the village were named after the six villages of Mousa Dagh. The total number of Mousadaghians that was recorded in 1939 was 5125 persons representing 1205 families. By the time the houses were ready, only 1050 families could be counted. The rest had moved out to find favorite conditions.
The six sections of Anjar are separated from each other by a wide road of 20m. At the highest point, is the Orthodox St. Paul church. Other wide sections were allocated for the Catholic and the Evangelical churches.
Before the houses were built and ready, Mousadaghians established a tent village on the hilly ashes of the Khalkis ruins. Later on, the earth was moved and the ruins were excavated to reveal the Umayyad structure of the ruins.
On September 20, 1939, the construction of the houses began. Winter was harsh thus, most of the women and children were distributed to the neighboring villages, Majdel-Anjar, Bar-Ilias, Saouiry, Raouda, Kab-Ilias, Mrayjat, Terbol, Kfarzabad for shelter and food. Anjarians are forever grateful to their neighbors for their traditional Arab hospitality.
The original plan of building family houses included two rooms and a toilet for each family. When the World War II started and for financial reasons this was cut down. Only one room 4 by 4.5 meters and an adjacent toilet could be built. Some of these rooms still exist in Anjar. They are known as "The French Rooms" . The housing land for each family was 400 m2 (16 by 25 meters). This gave the future generations the base to build on the housing plots. The total number of the "French Rooms" constructed was 1065. Each one cost three thousand French Francs.
In the first year, Anjar had no potable running water so people were obliged to carry on their shoulders all the water they needed from the spring of Anjar (Dzardager), which is 1 km to the north of the village. Later, fountains (Kastals) were built to ease the task.
