In times of crisis, culture is often left behind humanitarian aid efforts, but culture is the soul of communities everywhere, the cement of social cohesion, depository of shared values that enable collective action and recovery. This is particularly true for the Lebanese capital, a Mediterranean city whose vibrant culture has been nourished by the creativity of its diverse communities and many influences.
This is the rationale behind UNESCO’s ongoing mobilization of the international community through its Li Beirut (For Beirut) initiative launched immediately after the two explosions in the port of Beirut a year ago to support the rehabilitation of schools, heritage buildings, museums, galleries, and the creative economy. UNESCO and its partners are not only saving built heritage and helping preserve the memory of Beirut, but also contributing to improving the city’s protection and management of affected urban heritage, and supporting creativity to help revive the city’s cultural life.
Mobilizing partners and coordinating support
Working with Lebanese partners, including the Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA) NGOs and experts, Li Beirut has been supporting museums, galleries, artists and artisans, who, even before the devastating blasts, were suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, and deep social and economic crises. UNESCO’s has been coordinating trainings and technical capacity building, as well providing financial assistance to the cultural sector thanks to an extensive network of international partners that includes ALECSO, ALIPH, ARC-WH, Blue Shield, ICCROM, ICOM, ICOMOS, ICESCO, IFLA, and WMF. The international community needs to work together, side by side with the authorities and people of Lebanon. UNESCO has been coordinating assistance to ensure it reaches the people in need and to avoid duplication and overlapping. A joint International Roadmap for the Recovery of Beirut through Culture, was developed under the coordination of UNESCO. It has identified short-, medium- and long-term objectives, and 15 actions for immediate emergency interventions, to recover and rehabilitate built heritage, museums and repositories, support artists and artisans, and safeguard intangible cultural heritage.
Saving built heritage and the memory of Beirut
UNESCO, ASPAD, Blue Shield International, Blue Shield Lebanon, ICCROM, Alumni of the Centre for Restoration and Conservation of the Lebanese University, and ICOMOS, assisted the DGA in assessing damage to historic buildings and drawing an inventory that helped identify 640 historic buildings that needed urgent interventions among the 8,000 edifices affected by the explosions.
Through its Heritage Emergency Fund, UNESCO was one of the first to work on the stabilization of two buildings, including the famous villa Boustani, a patrician residence turned art gallery. The generous contribution of Germany allowed UNESCO to stabilize and shore another 12 historic buildings.
UNESCO, with the support of the Heritage Emergency Fund and in cooperation with DGA and the French company ICONEM, documented Beirut’s affected cultural and architectural heritage facilitating the creation of a geo-referenced 3D model of three historic areas of Beirut: Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhail, and Karantina. This new tool was officially presented to the DGA’s Director-General Dr Sarkis Khoury on 2 August 2021 in the presence of Ms Sahar Baassiri, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Lebabon to UNESCO. Not only will it guide the rehabilitation of urban cultural spaces and selected historic landmark buildings, its development also provided an opportunity to train young professionals from DGA.
“We are improving the techniques of our team through this exchange of expertise. Technology is part of our business, and we need good documentation for all operations. Many institutions, including large universities, have already expressed a desire to use this model," says Dr Khoury.
The model will also help integrate projects designed to revive the city’s cultural life, and safeguard its intangible cultural heritage, key components for the resumption of the social and economic life in damaged neighborhoods and throughout the Lebanese capital.
Efforts to support Lebanon do not stop here. With funding from Italy, and building on ongoing interventions carried out by ALIPH, UNESCO is supporting the rehabilitation of the Sursock Museum, a rare architectural landmark whose reopening is important for its educational, cultural and social functions.
Planning for enhanced protection and management of the urban heritage in the affected areas
Supporting the Lebanese Directorate of Antiquities in implementing the law passed in October 2020 to freeze the sale and reassignment of property rights, and developing an action plan for the protection of urban heritage in the damaged areas, UNESCO has been advocating a timely, thorough, structured and sustainable legislative and regulatory framework for heritage protection supported by tailored assistance measures.
Within this framework, UNESCO is collaborating with the AUB Urban Lab of the American University of Beirut to map the different layers of urban heritage in the city to inform the elaboration of an action plan. Additionally, UNESCO is poised to launch a new project with the French urban planning institute, the Institut d'Aménagement et d'Urbanisme de la Region d'Ile-De-France, to strengthen legal measures to protect Lebanon’s built heritage and urban fabric. Through these complimentary projects, UNESCO is facilitating thorough analyses of urban regulations, heritage conservation and management policies, mobility and transport needs, green spaces and landscape, mindful of their socio-economic dimensions.
Reviving cultural life, supporting creativity
Beirut’s damaged heritage consists of much more than sites, monuments, and cultural places. The explosions also hit the art and creative industries of the city. Impacting its cinemas, galleries, theatres, museums, recording studios, and cultural spaces, which were destroyed. Many artists, musicians, artisans, small and medium enterprises lost the tools of their trades and the facilities they need to produce their work. Seeking to support the arts and creativity and encourage creators to stay in Lebanon, UNESCO designed a unique project to revive cultural life through a 3-day festival baptized TERDAD (Resonance) held from 2 to 4 July 2021 with the participation of more than 3,000 people. TERDAD marked the resumption of creative activities in Beirut, offering healing from the trauma of the crisis, and helping people rediscover a sense of normalcy of life.
UNESCO and its partners also supported Beirut’s creative industry, notably its vibrant literary sector which merited the city’s designation by UNESCO as a Creative City of Literature in 2019. Since the launch of the Li Beirut initiative, Creative Cities around the world, set up solidarity initiatives to support Beirut.
A year has passed since the devastating explosions and the immediate response phase is over. But there is still a long way ahead for Beirut to recover fully from the shock of the disaster. The rehabilitation of historic buildings, houses, and urban areas is far from complete, cultural spaces need to be repaired and reopened, artworks and cultural objects need to be restored, and cultural professionals and actors still need support. All of this is essential to revive the cultural life of Beirut for the enjoyment and participation of all its residents. “Challenges remain ahead of us and it is essential that all partners join forces”, notes Ernesto Ottone, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture. “UNESCO will keep accompanying Lebanon and the Lebanese people to assist them in Beirut’s journey to recovery, while working with all our local and international partners. Partnership is indeed a key to success.”