Ain Em Nicolas is one of the historic public fountains of Deir el Qamar, set into the old town that was once the capital of Mount Lebanon. In a city of palaces, water points like this one were civic architecture: a stone façade, a basin and a place where the quarter gathered. It still marks a stop on the walk between the midan, the churches and the Chehab serails. The carving and the setting explain daily life in the Chouf better than a single throne room does. Photographers like the contrast of wet stone and the narrow street. Include it with Saydet al Talleh and Dany Chamoun Square rather than treating it as a separate destination.
