Beirut's reconstruction artfully depicted

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's prime minister, is a man who wears many hats. He is a politician, a banker, a businessman and now a publisher of fine books.

His latest venture comes in the form of a beautifully designed and crafted, 300-page coffee-table book of colored photographs, depicting Beirut before and post reconstruction -- a project close to the prime minister's heart.

"Beirut: The Wars of Destruction and the Perspective of Reconstruction," chronicles the amazing work that has gone in raising and rebuilding Beirut's devastated and war-ravaged city center, into a magnificent rejuvenated series of lively arteries that crisscross the very heart of the capital. It is a masterpiece that stands as a historic testimony to the amazing labor of love that has gone into the renovation of the city.

It is not so much the quality of the images or the text itself, the work of Ayman Trawi, which is indeed nicely done though at times repetitive, but what is particularly striking are the amazing efforts the builders and planners took to maintain the original architecture - the Mediterranean and Ottoman character -- of the old city center. This is truly gratifying.

The old commercial center of the Lebanese capital witnessed some of the worst fighting, and suffered greatly during the 16-year brutal civil war that raged from 1975-1991. Rebuilding the area was slow and dangerous work due to the tens of thousands of land mines and unexploded ordnance that littered the area.

Hariri, who is responsible for the reconstruction project that gave Beirut its much needed facelift that brought the city out of post-war depression, has accomplished nothing short of a truly historic wonder. The reconstruction could have easily come in the shape of some horrible neo-modern glass and concrete city, the sort that popped up in some post-war German cities, for example. Instead, Hariri took extra care to preserve Beirut's heritage.

To be sure, his detractors are blaming much of the country's economic woes on the prime minister, who borrowed funds at 14 percent, putting Lebanon's public debt at around a staggering 28 billion dollars. But in all fairness, rebuilding the devastated city center has accomplished far more than ego building.

Filling the geographical void that divided Christian east from Muslim west Beirut has enabled both communities to rediscover each other in the refurbished area now known as Solidere, and to gradually shelve their distrust and slowly bridge their differences. This undertaking alone has contributed greatly in solidifying national unity on a scale, that, only time will tell if the experiment proved successful. But judging from immediate results, one can only be encouraged.

"The doors of Beirut are flung open once again, and the city is getting back all the signs of modern culture that were missing for so long," reads the text from the book's introduction, which in keeping with Lebanon's multiculturalism, is written in three languages; English, French and Arabic.

"Achieving this book is no small task," writes the author in the foreword. "However, it cannot compare with the great tour de force that is the rebirth of Beirut, ancient city of the future." And herein are the keywords ... "the future." By investing in the reconstruction of the city center, Hariri has made an investment in the future of Lebanon.

"The main goal of Hariri's program was working toward the reconstruction of Lebanese society," adds the author. Indeed, a simple stroll through the cafes and boutiques of the renovated neighborhoods will attest to the fact that Lebanese society is benefiting from the magnet that Solidere represents today, attracting Lebanese as well as tourists. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, droves of Gulf Arabs shunned travel to the West, preferring to spend their petro-dollars in Beirut.

The author compares Hariri's Beirut project to that of Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann, who also came under severe criticism and slander as he set about to reconstruct Paris between 1853 and 1870.

Haussmann was an architectural visionary, able to project his vision into the 20th century, to see what the city of lights should look like in the decades and centuries ahead. It would be safe to add, that likewise, Hariri enjoys that same vision for Beirut. While he may not be appreciated by many today due to his economic policies, his oeuvre - the reconstruction of Beirut -- will certainly be remembered in the decades to come.

The book which was offered to each of the visiting heads of state and government at the recent Francophone summit, stands as a testimony of Lebanon's recent history, of what was done to it by the madness of war, and how it rebuilt itself, literally from the ashes.

"Over 6,000 years, Beirut witnessed many civilizations, from the Canaanites to the Ottomans, and experienced tragic events as well, such as two earthquakes in the 6th century A.D. and a flood followed by a giant fire that burned the city to the ground. On every count, Beirut pulled itself back from the ashes with an astounding determination to live and prosper," writes the author.

In more than 300 glossy color pages, the author depicts views of the Beirut of yesterday, buildings gnawed by bullets, disfigured by mortar shells and martyred by artillery barrages, while the opposite page gives the reader a view of the same building and the same avenues, after reconstruction. It is really nothing short of a miracle that one has to see in order to believe.

Streets that were left for the good part of a decade to abandonment, where wild grass and trees grew in the middle of the road, are now repaved. Building facades nibbled by hundreds of thousands of bullets and artillery barrages, have been reshaped, rebuilt and repainted, all while keeping their original character. What was once a ghost town in the real sense of the word has now become the very heart of this rejuvenated city. Minarets and church steeples have magically found their once lost shapes.

The only critique that one can offer to such a work is that the quality and cost associated in producing the book -- $85 per copy according to Hariri -- will place it out of reach of the average Lebanese. A smaller, paperback version should be produced and included in every Lebanese school's curriculum. This would accomplish two things; first, it would teach future generations of school children in Lebanon about the insanity of a useless war that tore the country apart for a decade and a half; and second, it would teach them that the impossible can always be accomplished.

Finally, Hariri should also produce a version showing only the new Beirut, which should be made available on the international market to entice tourists to visit the country. The handful of people to whom I showed my copy of the book, all oohed and aahed and said they now wanted to visit Lebanon and see the reconstructed city with their own eyes.

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(See pictures WAX2000210201 through WAX2003102908)