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The rebuilding of Tourza's parish church |
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| After two month of a continuous work , the first step of rebuilding the church of saint " Sarkis and Backos " in Tourza has been achieved . On Sunday , 14-11-2003 , the holiness Mass of the new altar was celebrated under the pastor's cheifship ,the Metropolitan Francis el-baysary and the presence of the residing citizens of the village. |
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the parish's paintings: Three paintings of the parish were restored by the artist Issam Kheir_allah.He had cleaned them and removed away whatever covered them of dust, and incense or wasc smoke during a century and a half. |
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The enormous altar: After demolishing the three altars close to the stone wall, we built in middle a principal and unique altar made of "testa" stone . it has the form of a tomb , engraved on its frontal part by the "Lord's Supper" drawing clearly noticed and enlighted in the middle .The altar's length in 2 meters and its width is one meter only . It was sculptured by the priest Joseph Makhlouf. |
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Host and chrism chancels: The host chancels ,according to the maronite church's tradition is moved to the right altar , means to the " virgin Mary's" altar ;its a mix of brass and colored glass. It's the most splendid work ever reached by the ecclesiastic art . in our church , there are normally 2 chancels: one to the host and the other to the chrism an baptism water. these two sacred chancels were achieved by the priest Joseph Makhlouf. |
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The Baptismal font: Next to the old stone font , they put a new baptismal stone font ; it's as high as the principal altar, placed in the back of the church . it was designed by Mr. Sarkis Yaakoub. |
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The cross: At the top of the altar, there is the painting of the parish's Saints , and above this picture, there is a wooden cross enlighted from its back , very huge , made of the oak wood, having the same color of the seats . This cross was designed by the priest Joseph Makhlouf and it was achieved by the carpenter Elias Yaakoub. |
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The church's enlightenment: The engineer Elie Salih has done the study and the well-known "Ayanyan" company has achieved the enlightenment of our church in a certain manner that suit its historical value. |
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The sound system: The "Amac" company has set the sound system inside the church in a very advanced technique. |
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The church's field: The field was hollowed to make it lower than the church ; the external columns were totally removed and the field's entrance was changed ; All the field was paved so that it became as high as the main entrance. |
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The church's seats: In our church ,there are 52 seats . the carpenter Elias Yaakoub supplied with a team of workers and specialists in painting have restored and fixed them because these seats are made of an old and rare kind of wood and their value is a historical one. |
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The pulpits: There are two pulpits ; one for the "evangel" and the second for the "Message"; the holy book is shown over the first one . (saint who is celebrated) .They were designed by the priest Joseph Makhlouf and executed by Elias Yaakoub. |
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The windows: The fifth upper windows are made of iron and ecclesiastic Italian glass. They were drawn up by the priest Joseph Makhlouf and executed by Joseph Chanine . The used glass is a mixture of colored glass with gold oxide . The designer of the windows was the priest Joseph Makhlouf; their wood was carpented by Elias Yaakoub and their glass was achieved by Makhlouf himself. |
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Diversities: |
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- The loft's destruction.
- The stone's rebuilding inside the church.
- The restoring of the internal pavement.
- To open two ancient bookcases in the wall to arrange the old books.
- To open six arches in the highest level of the church that existed ago and were used to enlight.
- To put two stones for the blessed water at both entrances of the church.
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Futur projects |
- The paving of the church by suitable stony pavements.
- opening the principal entrance towards the public field.
- a project of air-conditioning system for the church.
- buying a photocopier to the church.
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The rebuilding's costs |
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Project |
Cost in U.S $ |
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Restoring the three
parish's paintings |
3000 |
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The three altars |
3500 |
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Host and chrism chancels |
3000 |
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Enormous cross |
300 |
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Sound system |
2931 |
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Pavements' cost |
7114 |
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church's seats |
9000 |
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Electricity and
enlightenment |
4559 |
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Windows |
2510 |
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Pulpits |
400 |
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fees of stone and pavement workers |
4500 |
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fees of workers and transportation |
3341 |
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fees of compressor
and geomancy |
1084 |
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hardware and
paintings |
602 |
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Ecclesiastic
utensils |
664 |
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Electric generator |
6000 |
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Carpets |
3204 |
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Wood |
2000 |
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Different items |
389 |
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Organ |
1300 |
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Total |
59398 |
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The total of the rebuilding's costs was nearly estimated to 60000 US $ mainly contributed by:
- Sister Anias Gaspard :25000 $
- Mr.Sarkis yaakoub: 7114 $
- Mr.Sarkis Mouawad: 3000 $
- Tourza's municipality: 1500 $
- The "women community" Canada: 2000 canadian $
- The commodore Lahoud Gerges: 1000 $
- Mr.William Nasr:500$
- Mr Elias yaakoub : 400 $
- Mr simon and Bassam Boutrous : 300 $
- Mrs Nasrah Nasr: 100 $
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To contribute in the rebuilding's costs ,please contact the parish priest Charbel Antonios on the following number : 961-6-995082 . or contribute to the following account:
Byblos bank -Kousba Branch, account number :// 295-2811945-002 //
Swift Code // BYBALBBX //
for further information: info@tourza.net
-pictures collection...
-arabic edition...
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prepared by : Youssef Saad |
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Lebaneese Newspaper
