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Maghdouché (, ) is a municipality in the South Governorate of Lebanon. It is located 50 km south of Beirut and 8 km southeast of Sidon. maghdouche.pipop.org The village lies 3 km inland from the Mediterranean, occupying a hill with elevation ranging between 200 and 229 meters above sea level. Discussion: 2. Al-Mountara ? . Christusrex.org (2000-12-19). Retrieved on 2013-04-11.
Maghdouché has a permanent population of 8,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom are Melkite Greek Catholics and few Maronite Catholics. The population of the town doubles when the expatriates return to spend their summer vacations in their ancestral home.
Ernest Renan visited Maghdouché during his mission to Lebanon, (described in Mission de Phénicie (1865-1874)) and he visited the caves Sayyidet el-Mantara and Mogharet el-Magdoura.Renan, 1864, pp. 518-519
In 1875 Victor Guérin found it to be a village with 300 Greek Catholic inhabitants. He also noted the caves, Saïdet el-Manthara and Merharet el-Makdoura.Guérin, 1880, p. 486
At the beginning of the sixties, under the auspices of Mgr Basile Khoury, the architect Varoujan Zaven designed and executed a hexagonal chapel topped by a 28-meter tower in a conical shape to support an 8.5-meter one-piece bronze statue of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus in her arms, of his own design as well, realized by Italian artist Pierrotti in Pietra Santa. The design and supervision of the project were both a donation on behalf of the architect. Our Lady of Mantara is considered the protectress of children, and many baptisms are celebrated at the sanctuary.
In May 1985 Amal Militia occupied Maghdouché, driving out the Lebanese Forces and expelling many of the Christian residents. Eighteen months later, on 24 November 1986, a coalition of fighters from Fatah, PFLP and DFLP from the refugee camps in Sidon attacked the Amal positions. In a week of fighting the Palestinians gained control of most of the village. The objective of the offensive was to cut off the Amal forces attacking the Palestinian camps in Tyre Lebanon from the Amal strongholds in South Beirut.Middle East International No 289, 5 December 1986; Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters; Editor Michael Adams; Jim Muir pp.10-11; Lamis Andoni pp.11-12. No 290, 19 December 1986; Jim Muir pp.5-6. During the fighting Amal accused Christian residents of siding with the Palestinians. At the beginning of the battle there had been 4,000 Christians in the village, by the end of November there were 80. Four village men were killed by Amal on the road out of the village, two of them were axed to death. Most of the villages women and children managed to reach East Beirut.Middle East International No 291, 9 January 1987; David McDowell p.4 In 1990 the residents of Maghdouché returned to the ruins of their village and began rebuilding what was destroyed in the war. history. Web.archive.org (2009-10-27). Retrieved on 2013-04-11.
Our Lady of Mantara was considered a religious heritage site and was added to the International Religious Tourism Map in 2016 .
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