A view of the Jeita Grotto. (Credit: NNA archive photo)
A wedding held inside Lebanon’s famed Jeita Grotto (Kesrouan district) has stirred public outrage this week after images and videos of the event surfaced on social media, prompting the government to launch an investigation and shut down the site temporarily.
As criticism mounted against the Jeita Municipality and Tourism Minister Lara al-Khazen Lahoud — the official responsible for the site — Khazen Lahoud announced in a video posted Thursday on X that the grotto would be closed “for the duration of the investigation,” in line with a decision by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. She pledged “legal and administrative measures” if any damage was found to have resulted from the celebrations.
The grotto had only recently reopened in July, after being closed since November 2024 following the death of Nabil Haddad, CEO of MAPAS-Liban, a subsidiary of a German company that had managed the site since 1993 under a repeatedly extended contract. The agreement tasked the municipality with preserving the grotto’s fragile ecosystem, while oversight remained under the Tourism Ministry and the Speleo Club of Lebanon. In 2011, Jeita Grotto was a finalist in the global “New7Wonders of Nature” competition.
In her video statement, Khazen Lahoud said she had not been informed “of the details” of the wedding, stressing that “the municipality of Jeita raised the issue verbally, without submitting a written request as required under the arrangement between the municipality and the ministry.” She added: “The Tourism Ministry received no details and gave no official approval for the holding of this wedding.”
Khazen Lahoud said that once the ministry became aware of the event, it “immediately took the necessary measures,” including sending a written warning to the municipality. The ministry reminded the local authorities of a standing ban on hosting events at heritage or symbolic sites without prior authorization, under a circular issued by the premiership.
That same directive had already sparked controversy in late September after images of former Hezbollah leaders were projected onto Beirut’s Raouche rock.
““The second measure is the temporary closure of Jeita Grotto and the formation of a committee of experts, including members of the Speleo Club of Lebanon, tasked with assessing any potential damage,” Khazen Lahoud said. She added that “all the ministry’s resources” were being placed at the disposal of the investigation and that, if harm was confirmed, “all legal and administrative measures will be taken.”
Khazen Lahoud did not clarify how responsibility might be divided or what penalties could be imposed.
She also announced that the ministry had finalized the specifications for a tender to manage the site under a new “transparent and competitive” long-term framework and promised to keep the public fully informed of the investigation’s findings.
Later Thursday, the ministry issued a separate statement denying that Khazen Lahoud had attended the wedding, following online claims based on circulating videos that appeared to show her and “a small group of musicians.” The ministry said the footage was in fact taken during the grotto’s reopening ceremony on July 21.
