Barouk

Barouk-Fraydis فريديس الشوف-باروك
Municipality
Skyline of Barouk Skyline of Barouk
Barouk-Fraydis Location within Lebanon
Coordinates:
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Mount Lebanon
District	Chouf
Area
• Total	27.62 km2 (10.66 sq mi)
Elevation	530 m (1,740 ft)
Population (2010)
• Total	5,197
	(Registered voters)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Dialing code	+961

Barouk-Fraydis (Arabic: فريديس الشوف-باروك‎‎) is a municipality in the Chouf District of Mount Lebanon Governorate in Lebanon. It consists of the villages of Barouk and Fraydis el-Chouf. The municipality is located 52 kilometers southeast of Beirut. Its average elevation is 530 meters above sea level and its total land area consists of 2,762 hectares. The municipality had 5,197 registered voters in 2010. Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze and Maronite and Melkite Christians.

Historically, Barouk is known for being the "land of good", because of its fountain, Nabeh-el-Barouk. The poet Rachid Nakhleh, the writer of the national hymn, Kulluna lel watan, was born in Barouk. The village is also well-known for its apples and other fruits, and for its many pine and oak forests. Barouk is named after the adjacent mountain of Jabal el-Barouk, which stands 1,943 meters above sea level. The mountain also has the largest nature reserve in Lebanon, the Al Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve, and contains the oldest cedar forest in Lebanon.