|
July
- September 1 9 9 9 |
|
|
Summer
in the city center
|
|
In good weather,
Beirut city center provides an ideal public space for people from all walks of life.
Sometimes they take the air in its squares and gardens, or simply stroll or
bicycle along its tree-lined streets, enjoying the sight of its restored or new
buildings. A great number |
|
|
assemble regularly to participate in a variety of
cultural, social and leisure activities. The city center has been bustling this summer with a
profusion of events that stretched late into the night. It has been a natural
and exciting venue for activities held in Beirut as the UNESCO-designated
cultural capital of the Arab world for 1999. Parliament and the Grand Serail
were opened to the public on September 18 and 19, within Lebanon's participation
to 'Heritage Day', along with 44 European countries. |
|
|
|
|
Architectural design and real estate
exhibition
Held by
Ghilde in Riad El Solh Square between August 27 and September 4, this exhibition
presented information on the city center reconstruction and development.
SOLIDERE displayed its own projects and services, including integrated property
management services. Other developers and architectural firms also displayed
their new construction and restoration projects, and the public was thus
provided with details about available commercial, residential and office space
in the city center. Societe Immobiliere de Presse, Al-Makassed, Wakf al-Roum,
Fochville, Orient Gate, Erga Group, Ahlia School, Antoine Khawam, Shaker and
Oweini, Lebanon Invest, Paramount Group and the Lazarist Fathers, were among the
22 participants.
|
|
|
|
Summer Festivals
A festive ambience
filled the Foch-Allenby, Roman baths and Minet El Hosn areas this summer.
Musicians, artists, artisans, dancers, acrobats, jugglers, magicians and
storytellers
|
|
|
|
|
|
celebrated culture and life in general. Every night, visitors could
enjoy concerts, watch shows and parades, relax in open air cafés, or shop at
antiques- and other street market stalls. 'Culture reaches to the streets', a festival held between
July 15 and August 22, started with a colorful parade. Storytellers and
displays, carried on a 28-m train pulled by an 'elephant', presented 'Beirut
Across the Ages' highlights: Beirut a cultural city, the old Souks, the port,
the Phoenician alphabet, Fakhreddine, Hannibal, famous Beirutis. |
|
The festival
featured an Armenian circus and vertical dancing shows, performed by the French
Companie Retouramont on the facades of restored buildings.
In the Roman baths, classical and oriental music was
performed by such renowned artists as Walid Hourani and Charbel Rouhana. E.E.
Schmidtt's play, |
|
|
'Enigmatic Variations', directed by
Mounir Abou Debs, was
interpreted in colloquial Arabic by Antoine Kerbage and Jihad El Andari. |
|
|
'Beirut Nights' was a popular arts and crafts
festival held
between September 2 and 12.
It was opened with fireworks, a flight of doves,
folkloric music and a scouts' parade. Participants performed music and songs, or
exhibited artworks, handicrafts and cottage industry products. Visitors also had
the opportunity to sample delicious Lebanese fruit and traditional sweets and
drinks. |
|
Photo Exhibition The Maarad arcades were
chosen as the culminating point of Photography Month, the roving exhibition
organized by the Ministry of Culture, the European House for Photography and the
French Cultural Center. The setting befitted the exhibition theme 'Another look
at the Lebanese and French artists were displayed, ranging from landscapes to
historical sites, old houses, handicrafts and traditional scenes. |