![Early July 1942 - Magnificent Guardian Lion gates on the old road to Ehden, Syria [later North Lebanon] | by aussiejeff](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/8088551510_3b1f3f79c0.jpg)
Early July 1942 - Magnificent Guardian Lion gates on the old road to Ehden, Syria [later North Lebanon]
IMAGE INFO
- The original magnificent "Guardian Lions" of Ehden were donated by an emigrant named Boutros Sheikha Douaihy (in 1939) & sculpted by artist Georges El Selou. A relative of Boutros, Youssef Sheikha Douaihy, helped Georges build the statue bases.
- Sadly, the original sharply detailed hand-sculpted lion statues seen in this photo are no longer there. The whole area has since been urbanized & new road system built, becoming a tourist mecca in later years. I have no idea where the original sculpted lions may have ended up. However, a replacement lion (appears to be a concrete cast replica) now exists on top of the original left stone plinth (now white-washed). The original right stone plinth (sans lion) was removed to allow for road widening & it appears a replacement plinth (not the same quality carved stones) with another poorer quality, replica concrete lion statue sitting atop it has been positioned much further to the right. See this Google Street View link for how the replica lions & replacement right plinth are now situated (note the original Shrine building in the background is still there!):
www.google.com.au/maps/@34.2920144,35.9541683,3a,51.1y,74...
- Saydet el Hosn basilica (aka the "Lady of the Fortress" shrine & monastery) is atop the peak of the mountain, which can be seen rising to the cloud base in the background of the photo.
- Ehden is located 30km east of Tripoli, on the Mar Sarkis (Saint Sarkis) Mountain, overlooking coastal towns and villages as far as Akkar to Shikka.
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SOURCE INFO
- This very rare, unique original image was captured by my late father-in-law, Driver Tom Beazley of the 2/4 Anti Malaria Control Unit, 9 Division, 2 Australian Imperial Force, using a KODAK folding 120 roll-film camera while on local leave to Ehden & surrounds.
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PROCESS INFO
- Very grainy, faded & blurry original print was digitized using a Canon Canoscan 8800F scanner.
- Colourized using MyHeritage app.
- Image quality enhanced using Topaz Gigapixel AI, Skylum Luminar Neo AI & Adobe Photoshop CS2.
Early July 1942 - Magnificent Guardian Lion gates on the old road to Ehden, Syria [later North Lebanon]
IMAGE INFO
- The original magnificent "Guardian Lions" of Ehden were donated by an emigrant named Boutros Sheikha Douaihy (in 1939) & sculpted by artist Georges El Selou. A relative of Boutros, Youssef Sheikha Douaihy, helped Georges build the statue bases.
- Sadly, the original sharply detailed hand-sculpted lion statues seen in this photo are no longer there. The whole area has since been urbanized & new road system built, becoming a tourist mecca in later years. I have no idea where the original sculpted lions may have ended up. However, a replacement lion (appears to be a concrete cast replica) now exists on top of the original left stone plinth (now white-washed). The original right stone plinth (sans lion) was removed to allow for road widening & it appears a replacement plinth (not the same quality carved stones) with another poorer quality, replica concrete lion statue sitting atop it has been positioned much further to the right. See this Google Street View link for how the replica lions & replacement right plinth are now situated (note the original Shrine building in the background is still there!):
www.google.com.au/maps/@34.2920144,35.9541683,3a,51.1y,74...
- Saydet el Hosn basilica (aka the "Lady of the Fortress" shrine & monastery) is atop the peak of the mountain, which can be seen rising to the cloud base in the background of the photo.
- Ehden is located 30km east of Tripoli, on the Mar Sarkis (Saint Sarkis) Mountain, overlooking coastal towns and villages as far as Akkar to Shikka.
************************
SOURCE INFO
- This very rare, unique original image was captured by my late father-in-law, Driver Tom Beazley of the 2/4 Anti Malaria Control Unit, 9 Division, 2 Australian Imperial Force, using a KODAK folding 120 roll-film camera while on local leave to Ehden & surrounds.
************************
PROCESS INFO
- Very grainy, faded & blurry original print was digitized using a Canon Canoscan 8800F scanner.
- Colourized using MyHeritage app.
- Image quality enhanced using Topaz Gigapixel AI, Skylum Luminar Neo AI & Adobe Photoshop CS2.