Balamand Monastery, also called Belmont, stands in the Koura District of northern Lebanon, in what was the Crusader County of Tripoli. French Cistercian monks founded it in 1157 and built it between 1157 and 1169. The Cistercian period lasted more than a century, until the Mamluk conquest of Tripoli in 1289, and the site was then largely abandoned.
In 1603 Greek Orthodox monks led by Youwakim, Metropolitan of Tripoli, restored the monastery with the support of local Muslim officials. By 1610 it had about 12 monks, with vineyards, olive groves and livestock. The English traveler Henry Maundrell recorded about 40 monks in 1697.
In 1988 Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch founded the University of Balamand on and around the monastery lands. The monastery is still an active Greek Orthodox monastery.
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