The valley is at risk due to the encroachment of human settlement, illegal building, and inconsistent conservation activity.

[3] The holy river, Nahr Qadisha, runs through the valley for 35 km from its source in a cave (grotto) a little way below the Forest of the Cedars of God.

Historical sources report that the cedar forests were beginning to disappear at the time of Justinian in the 6th century AD.

The Aassi Hauqqa (cave) in particular, near Hawqa, has yielded archaeological items indicating use in the Palaeolithic, Roman, and medieval periods.

[citation needed] The Maronite monks established their new center at Qannubin, in the heart of the Qadisha, and monasteries quickly spread over the surrounding hills.

[citation needed] The Mameluk sultans Baibars and Qalaoun led campaigns in 1268 and 1283, respectively, against the fortress-caves, monasteries, and the surrounding villages.

Also this printing press was the first to print in Arabic language[6] Eight well preserved natural mummies of villagers dating back to around 1283 A.D. were uncovered by Fadi Baroudy, Pierre Abi Aoun, Paul Kahawaja & Antoine Ghaouch, a team of speleologists[7] from the GERSL scientific organisation in the Qadisha Valley between 1989 and 1991.

[9][10] The valley's natural caves, being comfortless, scattered, and difficult to access, provided monks and hermits sufficiently isolated and inhospitable conditions to live out Christian solitude, contemplation, and devotion.

Many of the caves and irregularities in the cliff-sides were adapted to serve as individual dwellings (cells), chapels, and monasteries, and such buildings were further carved out of the cliff faces of the valley.

The upper level, only accessible by ladder, is a cave some 47m long, where the wealth of medieval pottery and arrowheads that have been found suggests its use as a refuge.

The Monastery of Mar Sarkis, also called Ras Al Nahr, overlooks Ehden, Kfarsghab, Bane and Hadath El Jebbeh.

The first church of Saints Sarkis and Bakhos was built in the mid 8th Century A.D. on the ruins of a Canaanite temple dedicated to a god of agriculture - Dagan.