Beirut Travel Guide - Lebanese Charm
Beirut Travel Guide - Lebanese Charm
Beirut is the capital city of Lebanon with a population of approximately 2.1 million people in its metropolitan area. The city is on a relatively small headland jutting into the east Mediterranean. It is by far the biggest city in Lebanon. Due to Lebanon's small size the capital has always held the status as the only true cosmopolitan city in the country, and ever since the independence, has been the commercial and financial hub of Lebanon.
Beirut has survived a rough history, falling under the occupation of one empire after another,. Originally named Bêrūt, The Wells by the Phoenicians, Beirut's history goes back more than 5000 years. Excavations in the downtown area have unearthed layers of Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, Arab and Ottoman civilizations.
Beirut enjoys Mediterranean climate. Come in April to June for warm, dry days and long, cool evenings (15–25°C). Temperatures in July and August rise above 30°C and humidity can be somewhat overwhelming. Most areas of Beirut have a friendly atmosphere and Beirutis have a reputation for being very polite, friendly, sociable and outgoing. The locals are used to the sight of foreigners and many of them are happy to get to know you and even to show you around the city.
Districts of Beirut includes :
Downtown
Badaro
Hamra
Ain El Mraiseh
Clémenceau
Manara
Rawcheh
Verdun
Ramlet El Baida
Ashrafieh
Gemmayze
Mar Mikhael
Monot Street
Jnah
Beirut was once the self-proclaimed Paris of the Middle East. It still has an outdoor cafe culture, and European architecture can be found everywhere. Many Beirutis (as well as other Lebanese) speak French and/or English, to varying degrees, along with Arabic. Each district has its own sights and places to visit. The following listings are just some highlights of things that you really should see if you can during your visit to Beirut. The complete listings are found on each individual district page.
A lot to see in Beirut such as :
National Museum of Beirut
Sursock Museum
Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque
Beirut Central District
Martyrs' Square, Beirut
Raoucheh
Gouraud
Zaitunay Bay
Grand Serail
Hamra
Raouche Rocks
mim museum
Souk El Tayeb
René Moawad Garden
Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral
Roman Baths, Beirut
Al-Omari Grand Mosque
Beit Beirut
American University of Beirut
Verdun
Mar Mikhael
Ain Al Mraiseh
Manara
Gemmayzeh
Maronite Cathedral of Saint George, Beirut
Sanayeh
Beirut Luna Park
Sahet Al Nejmeh
Verdun
Planet Discovery
TayounehSassine Square
Corniche Ain Mreisse
St nicholas stairs
Villa Audi Mosaic Museum
AUB Beach
Nijmeh Square
St. Maroun - Church
Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture
Badaro
Ra's Bayrut
Horsh Beirut - حرج بيروت
Geitawi
Bab Idriss
Museum of Lebanese Prehistory
Saray
Ramlet al-Baida
AUB Assembly Hall
Pigeon Rocks
Place de l'Etoile
Jeita Grotto
Lebanese cuisine is a mix of Arab, Turkish, and Mediterranean influences, and enjoys a worldwide reputation for its richness and variety as well as its Mediterranean health factor. Olive oil, herbs, spices, fresh fruits and vegetables are commonly used, as well as dairy products, cereals, fishes and various types of meat. A visit to Beirut includes the traditional Lebanese Mezze (Meza), an elaborate variety of thirty hot and cold dishes.
As the city is quite compact, walking is the best way of getting around, and perfect for getting off the beaten track to find unexpected surprises. Most people however will not walk throughout the city, rather they will walk within certain districts and take cars/taxis to get from one district to another. Streets are poorly signposted, often giving a number instead of the street name you will have on your map, and few Beiruti locals would know how to navigate according to their names.
There are lots of hotels in Beirut's metropolitan area, ranging from cheap hostels to luxury suite hotels. Prices and quality vary across the spectrum, but if you look well enough, there's bound to be the perfect hotel inside whatever budget you set.
( Beirut - Lebanon ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Beirut . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Beirut - Lebanon
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The Holy Rail Exhibition
CAH and Dar El-Nimer event on May 3, 2018
A National Monument, A Work by Visualizing Palestine & Marwan Rechmaoui
“A National Monument” is a limited edition series of 21 wooden topographic reliefs created by Visualizing Palestine and artist Marwan Rechmaoui. Inspired by a series of highly detailed maps of Palestine from the British Mandate period, the works recreate a 3-dimensional snapshot of the major Palestinian cities and towns circa 1947, based on the final British surveys before the Nakba combined with digital elevation data from NASA.
The title of the work, “A National Monument”, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the words of J. F. Salmon, director of the Survey of Palestine (1933-38), who once wrote: A good topographical survey should be looked upon as a national monument of the first importance. Words that take on new meanings in light of the dramatic transformation of the territory over the past seven decades.
Details on the artwork and information for purchase is can be found at
A National Monument is the first collaboration between Visualizing Palestine and Marwan Rechmaoui. A National Monument was first exhibited at Dar El Nimer for Arts & Culture in Beirut, Lebanon, January 2019.
creative space beirut - Graduate Show 2016
creative space beirut - Graduate Show 2016
Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture
Class of 2016
Heba Nahle
Aline Seukunian
Fatima Noureddine
Roni Helou
Filmed by Nadim Saoma
Lighting Design by Tarek Mourad
Music by Sary Moussa
Produced by George Rouhana and Sarah Hermez
Assistant Producers Sarah Huneidi and Karina Gouldorava
Backstage Manager Luma Saleh
Backstage Assisstants Tarek Moukaddem and Jad Khalil
Backstage Team
Missak Hajiavedikian, Marie Benyamine, Roni Helou, Aline seukunian, Heba Nahle, Fatima Noureddine, Hazem Kais, Ahmed Amer, Eman Abou Omar, Dana Halwani, Najah Raya, Adam Baslan, Nour Gerges, Saleem Zein, Reine Helou, Rola Mezher, Yasmine Farhat and Nourhan Abdellatif
Makeup Artist Moe Rida
Hair Stylist Ibrahim Fakhreldeen
Models
Laura Gavrilenko, Maria Farah, Aksana Kamel, Andjela Bosheska, Liza Kudriavtseva, Irina Paulova, Kristina Syrova, Daria Galina, Karina Plyta, Olena Eudokimova, Alichka Kozlova and Yana Onatskaya
Fashion Consultant Mouna Harati
Public Relations Boushra Boustany, Assisstant PR Lea Chelhot
Dj Set Ayla Hibri
Camera Operator Ralph Moussa, Runway Photographers Carl Halal and Elie Abi Acar
Exhibition Design George Rouhana, Installation Design / Superhero Lynne Zakhour with the help of creative space beirut students
Volunteer Team
Tara Hermez, Tracy Moussi, Tamara Quaddoumi, Uliana filippovskaya, Christina Trad, Rebecca Zaatar, Stephanie Psaroulla, Sophia Psaroulla, Emma Skov, Karam Al-Ghossein, Riwa Mamoun and Ramzi Hibri
Thank you
Rasha Salah, Farah Fayyad, Lama Koubrously and Ayman Noubi
In-kind Sponsors
Jai, Domaine des Tourelles, Station Beirut and ABC Department Store
Sponsors
Dr. Nabil Qaddumi, Kamynu Trust, S. Yokoyama, Samir and Velma Hermez
Exhibition showcases Palestinian embroidery
(20 Jun 2016) LEAD IN:
An exhibition showcasing Palestinian embroidery is underway in Beirut.
Held at a satellite venue in Beirut, instead of in the West Bank - where it opened last month -, At the Seams is actually the first exhibition for the West Bank's Palestinian Museum.
STORY-LINE:
The intricate details of an embroidered dress.
These clothes are on show at the At the Seams: a Political History of Palestinian Embroidery exhibition.
It's the first exhibition held by the Palestinian Museum, but is being hosted in Beirut instead of the museum's home of Birzeit.
The displays immerse visitors into a world of art and fabric.
Palestinian embroidery is extremely rich in this sense. It has a language arguably, a vocabulary, dialects of its own, says curator Rachel Dedman.
Because despite being not a huge territory, Palestine had extraordinary multifaceted modes of making embroidery. So the work from Dimona is different from the work from Bethlehem, is different from the kinds of motifs that were practised in Jerusalem, she explains.
More than 50 dresses make up the exhibition, most from Widad Kawar and Malak al-Husseini Abdulrahim collections.
Dedman has visited locations in the Palestinian territories as well as camps in Jordan and Lebanon for her research.
She's collected video interviews, photographs, posters and painting to include in the exhibition.
And she says embroidery reflects the people's history.
It has played a role in the Palestinian resistance movement of the 1970s or during the first intifada when women would embroider these explicitly nationalistic motifs onto their dresses and wear them in the frontline of protest, Dedman says.
Dresses from the time of the intifada of the late 80s and early 90s show Palestinians flags or maps.
More than 450,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon within 12 camps registered with the United Nations.
And Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture, which is hosting the event, hopes it will challenge perceptions of this community.
Palestinians are not only refugees but they have a history and they have a background and they have...they had a country full of heritage and beautiful culture, says Rasha Salah, executive manager of Dar el Nimer.
Children from the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp have come to see the exhibits.
Eighteen boys and girls from Ain al-Hilweh on the outskirts of Sidon take part in workshops which introduce them to the art of embroidery.
Twelve-year-old Mariam Awad says she learned how to embroider, how to create a pattern out of squares.
And Elissar Awad, aged 13, says this visit has convinced her that sewing is not a boring thing.
The workshop organisers believe activities like this help to connect the children with their history.
It's important for them to be reintroduced to this because this is a part of their heritage that still exists but in a different way, says Christina Skaf, co-founder of studio Kawakeb which designed the workshop.
At the Seams runs until 30 July.
The Palestinian Museum opened in the West Bank last month but does not currently have any exhibits at the site.
The location of the next satellite exhibition has not yet been decided.
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BBIMF 2017 - Day 3
Gorgeous #recap of #BBIMF2017 by Zaher Jreidini with the different events of the festival's 3rd day, including the MEET THE ARTISTS session & panel discussion at Dar El-Nimer for Arts & Culture, the BBIMF Lunch at Bardo Beirut and concerts by PanSTARRS + Kid Fourteen + Porest at KED in #Beirut. ????Tracks by PanSTARRS & Porest.
Au Liban, des posters vintage exposent les clichés du cinéma occidental | AFP News
Au coeur de Beyrouth, Abboudi Abou Jawdeh présente au centre culturel Dar al-Nimer des dizaines d'affiches de vieux films afin de démonter les clichés sur le monde arabe qui ont nourri des décennies durant les fantasmes d'Hollywood et des cinémas d'Europe.
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Largest museum of Palestinian history opens
(18 May 2016) The largest museum dedicated to Palestinian history, culture and society opened in the West Bank town of Birzeit on Wednesday - but there were no exhibits to see.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas travelled the six kilometres (four miles) from his headquarters in Ramallah to open the biggest project the Palestinians have undertaken in terms of scale, space and budgets.
Palestinian officials, intellectuals and foreign diplomats gathered at the inauguration of the glass and stone building, designed by the Dublin-based architectural firm Heneghan Peng.
But the museum's halls are empty, devoid of artifacts, artworks or collections.
A dispute over different creative visions for the museum's opening led to the resignation of the previous director six months ago.
The Palestinian Museum's Chairman, Omar Al-Qattan, said that although he hoped to host the first exhibit here by the end of the year, it was nevertheless important to go ahead with the inauguration and hail the completion of the building.
The museum's opening has been timed to take place a few days after annual commemorations for Nakba Day, or day of catastrophe - the term Palestinians use for the May 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel and in which they fled, or were forced to leave their homes.
The chairman, who calls this a trans-national museum, said that one of its aims was to keep alive ties with Palestinians living in the diaspora through the offering of cultural programmes and exhibitions.
Lebanese-born Al-Qattan - himself a descendent of Palestinian refugees - said that the Palestinian Museum's first exhibit would take place in Beirut next week and would be dedicated to the political history of Palestinian embroidery.
There are 450,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon, mainly in refugee camps, with others living in Jordan, Syria and in Western countries, particularly in Chile.
It took three and a-half years to build the museum, which is nestled on a grassy hill near the Palestinian university town of Birzeit.
The edifice is located on a 40,000 square-metre (yards) piece of land and cost 28 (m) million US dollars.
Palestinians have about 30 museums in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - the areas where they hope to establish a state - but nothing on the scale of this new project.
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May Ziade, the Life of an Arab Feminist Writer
May Ziade: the Life of an Arab Feminist Writer (2018, 50’, Mohsen El Ghani / Al Jazeera, Arabic)
Marie Elias Ziade, or May, was a key Lebanese-Palestinian figure in the Arab literary scene in the early 20th century who firmly established herself as a vibrant female voice in what was clearly a man's world at the time. She was a journalist but also wrote fiction with strong female characters, poetry, political and cultural books and magazine articles, often on the condition of Arab women. She arrived in Egypt with her family around 1907 and held popular weekly salons for the predominantly male Egyptian literary elite and intellectuals. A romantic and idealist from an early age, Ziade exuded depth, femininity and charm - and so naturally won many admirers, both professional and amorous.
However, she did not entertain any of these suitors because she was only in love with one man, the Lebanese poet and one of the Arab literary greats, Gibran Khalil Gibran.
Extraordinarily, the two never met - but their relationship enriched Arabic epistolary literature with the most beautiful correspondence.