Two arched openings in a stone wall with a colonette in the middle and a decorative motif on top, this is a Mandaloon. You see them in most traditional homes in Lebanon and the reason I am telling you about them is the story behind the name ‘Mandaloon’.
Picture a young woman, 100 or so years ago, shy and reserved, on a cool summer night, sitting behind this window, her hand caressing a plant that grows in a pot outside her window. She is gazing at the stars while the breeze gently cools down her blushing cheeks. Below is her suitor serenading her with the sounds of his mandolin and hoping that she might gift him with a quick look before she retires to her sleep.
And that is only one small detail of the beautiful arched stone houses of Lebanon where light and air travel freely.
