A view of the exhibition "Beirut al-Marfa'". (Credit: Abbas Salman)
Beirut al-Marfa’ begins before you even realize it has. You step into Beit Beirut, that wounded yellow building standing stubbornly at the edge of Sodeco, and climb the stairs to the second floor, where Beit Beirut Urban Observatory, has opened its newest exhibition. The space holds a certain quietness to it that can be described as almost reverent. A huge mural is displayed on your left side; this mural shows the entire history of the port and the quarantine imposed by Ibrahim Basha in the 1800s, and the railway that had once linked the port to the rest of the Levant.On the 2nd floor of Beit Beirut, the city remembers its port. (Credit: Photo provided by Beit Beirut Urban Observatory) It is more like being in the middle of memory than being in an art gallery — the active repository of a city that has always belonged to the sea, linked...
Beirut al-Marfa’ begins before you even realize it has. You step into Beit Beirut, that wounded yellow building standing stubbornly at the edge of Sodeco, and climb the stairs to the second floor, where Beit Beirut Urban Observatory, has opened its newest exhibition. The space holds a certain quietness to it that can be described as almost reverent. A huge mural is displayed on your left side; this mural shows the entire history of the port and the quarantine imposed by Ibrahim Basha in the 1800s, and the railway that had once linked the port to the rest of the Levant.On the 2nd floor of Beit Beirut, the city remembers its port. (Credit: Photo provided by Beit Beirut Urban Observatory) It is more like being in the middle of memory than being in an art gallery — the active repository of a city that has always belonged to the sea,...
