The new Maronite Cathedral of St. Elias was built on Takieddine el Solh street outside the old town in one of the first neighborhoods to be urbanized extramuros between the 1920’s and 1950’s. It was completed in 1938 by the Maronite Archbishop of Sidon, Augustine al-Bustani, and is composed of an elevated central nave flanked by two side naves. The principal altar is topped by a gold painted half-dome and is dedicated to St. Elias, the church’s side altars are dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Ne’matullah al-Hardini of the Maronite Order. An inscription on the Cathedral’s dome contains an except from the Book of Kings (18: 31-32) which translates to ‘ And Elijah took twelve stones…and built from the stones an altar to the name of God’.

The church was destroyed during the Civil War and was left in ruins in its immediate aftermath since the large majority of Sidon’s Maronite population was displaced. It was renovated in the mid-2000s by the Maronite Patriarchy and a small part of the congregation has returned.