ANTI LEBANON MOUNTAINS BY FELIX BONFILS

 

FELIX BONFILS (1831-1885)
Anti-Lebanon Mountains / Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah (2,814m- 9,232 ft)
Lebanon - Syria -Israel

In Anti Liban vue genérale de Zébilani,  postcard, 1868

The mountains
The Anti-Lebanon Mountains / Jibāl Lubnān ash-Sharqiyyah (2,814m- 9,232 ft) are a southwest-northeast-trending mountain range that forms most of the border between Syria and Lebanon. The border is largely defined along the crest of the range. Most of the range lies in Syria.
Its Western name Anti-Lebanon comes from the Greek and Latin Antilibanus, derived from its position opposite and parallel to the Mount Lebanon range. It ends in the south with Mount Hermon, which borders on the Golan Heights; the Golan Heights are a different geological and geomorphological entity, but geopolitically they are often regarded together with the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, both being part of the Israeli-controlled Golan region. To the west of the Anti-Lebanon lie valleys that separate it from Mount Lebanon in central Lebanon: Beqaa Valley in the north and the Hasbani River valley in the south. To the east, in Syria, lies the Eastern Plateau, location of the city of Damascus.
The Anti-Lebanon range is approximately 150 kilometres (93 miles) in length. To the north, it extends to almost the latitude of the Syrian city of Homs. To the south, the range adjoins the lower-laying Golan Heights plateau, but includes the highest peaks, namely Mount Hermon  / Jabal el-Shaykh, at 2,814 metres, and Talat Musa at 2,669 mm. Others highest peaks are Hali mat-el-Kabou, (2510 m)  and  El Akhyad (2352 m).

 The area is known for its apricot and cherry trees as well as its stone quarries.

The photographer
Félix Bonfils was born in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort (France). He moved to Beirut in 1867 where he opened with his wife and his son Adrien, the photographic workshop Maison Bonfils, he renamed in 1878 F. Bonfils and Co..
Bonfils photographed in Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Greece as well as in Constantinople from 1876.
He was very active as soon as he arrives in Lebanon: his catalog mentions more than 15,000 prints in the early 1870s, made from nearly 200 negatives, and 9,000 stereoscopic views.
His works became famous thanks to tourists from the Middle East who brought his photographs as souvenirs. His views could be purchased individually, but they were also available as albums.
However, these photographs, produced by the workshop, could sometimes be the work of his son Adrien or assistants of the company.
In 1876 he returned to Alès (France), where he opened another studio around 1881. The one of Beirut was not closed. His wife Marie-Lydie and his son kept it opened and active after this death in 1885. This establishment was still very active in 1905, when a fire destroyed it.
The Bonfils business continued for several decades after the death of its founder. It was bought in 1918 by Abraham Guiragossian, a partner since 1909, who kept its name. It is mentioned in the Blue Guide in 1932.

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2020  - Wandering Vertexes
A blog by Francis Rousseau