Engineer Emmanuel Durand laser scans grain silos damaged by the massive explosion at Beirut’s port. (Credit: Dia Mrad)
BEIRUT — NGO DOCOMOMO International wrote in a statement Tuesday that it supports the concept of preserving and not demolishing the damaged Beirut port silos, and considers them a “memorial and a carrier of the collective memory.”
Here’s what we know:
• DOCOMOMO International is a non-profit organization dedicated to the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the modern architectural movement.
• The organization was contacted by a group of 25 Lebanese heritage experts regarding the possible demolition of the silos at the port, the statement added.
• In March, the Culture Ministry issued a statement saying that the silos should be considered “part of the heritage of humanity, a symbol embodying the image of a city aggrieved by the explosion, which necessitates preserving it and transmitting it to future generations.”
• However, in April, the cabinet issued a decree to demolish the silos and replace them with a new monument to commemorate the explosion.
• “DOCOMOMO International shares the concern of the Lebanese heritage experts that ‘the demolition of this modern architectural heritage, a witness of the Aug. 4 explosion and the guarantor of the preservation of collective memory, will accelerate the forgetting of this tragic event which marked an entire generation and will erase the memory of the space, and how to mourn what no longer has a place?’” the statement added.