Misplaced Pages

#27972

34-495: Although there are traces of human activity dating back to the neolithic era, the modern suburb was heavily settled by Greek Orthodox merchant families from Beirut's old city in the mid-nineteenth century. The area contains a high concentration of Beirut's Ottoman and French Mandate era architectural heritage. During the civil war, when Beirut was separated into eastern and western halves by the Green Line , Achrafieh changed from

68-534: A major part of the commercial and professional class of Beirut and other cities. Many are found in the Southeast ( Nabatieh / Beqaa ) and North , near Tripoli . They are highly educated and well-versed in finance. The Greek Orthodox church has become known in the Arab world, possibly because it exists in various parts of the region. The Greek Orthodox church has often served as a bridge between Lebanese Christians and

102-517: A mostly Christian residential area (compared to bustling, cosmopolitan Hamra , in Ras Beirut ) to a commercial hub in its own right. In the early 2000s, the area became a focal point of the city's real estate boom. The etymology of Achrafieh most likely relates to the steep hill that defines the area, although this is contested. The area centers on Beirut's highest point, the hill of Saint Dimitrios, and comprises neighbourhoods that slope towards

136-469: A small outpost of nearby Mount Lebanon on the coast. Administratively, Achrafieh today designates a quarter of the city, made up of 9 sectors (Achrafieh, Adlieh, Corniche el-Nahr, Furn el-Hayek, Ghabi, Hotel Dieu, Mar Mitr, Nasra, Sioufi). However, Saint Nicolas and Sursock Street, which are strictly within the quarter of Rmeil, have always been considered part of Achrafieh by local residents and real estate developers alike. Similarly, certain southern parts of

170-538: A way of evicting tenants on so-called "old rents", or because of lack of maintenance. The area now contains the tallest towers in Beirut, including Sama Beirut near Sodeco, and SkyGate near Sassine Square. The area around Sursock Street has been rebranded by developers as a "golden triangle" ( triangle d'or ), as it has a balance between permissible population density and development rights (e.g., height of buildings). In 2003 ABC Achrafieh department store and shopping mall

204-575: Is one of the few remaining villas from its epoch in Beirut. It is located in the Rue Sursock in the Rmeil district of Beirut. More than a hundred exhibitions have been held at the museum, including displays of works by Lebanese and international artists. The museum's permanent collection includes modern art, Japanese engravings and Islamic art . The museum collection consists of over 800 artworks, including paintings, sculptures and graphic arts from

238-757: The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Lebanon , which is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity , and is the second-largest Christian denomination in Lebanon after the Maronite Christians . Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians are believed to constitute about 8% of the total population of Lebanon. Most of the Greek Orthodox Christians live either in

272-563: The Maronite Church , but it does have strong connections to Russia and Greece. The Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians are believed to constitute about 8% of the total population of Lebanon, including the Palestinian Greek Orthodox community, many of whom have been given Lebanese citizenship . Greek Orthodox Christians support a variety of political parties and factions, including non-sectarian parties such as

306-2031: The Syrian Social Nationalist Party , the Lebanese Communist Party , and the Democratic Left Movement ; and Christian parties such as the Free Patriotic Movement , the Marada Movement , the Lebanese Forces , and the Kataeb . In Lebanon, the Greek Orthodox Christians are found in Beirut , the Southeast ( Nabatieh / Beqaa ) and North , near Tripoli , Koura , and also in Akkar , Batroun , Matn , Aley , Zahlé , Miniyeh-Danniyeh , Hasbaya , Baabda , Marjeyoun , Tripoli , Rashaya , Byblos , and Zgharta . Abou Mizan, Chrine, Achrafieh , rait , Amioun , Rahbeh , Kousba , Anfeh , Deddeh , Kfaraakka , Aaba , Afsdik , Bdebba , Batroumine , Bishmizzine , Btourram , Bkeftine , Bsarma , Btaaboura , Barsa , Charbila , Darchmezzine , Fih , Kaftoun , Kelhat , Kfarhata , Kfarhazir , Kfarsaroun , Ras Maska , Miniara , Cheikh Mohammad , Zawarib , Hamat , Douma , Dhour El Choueir , Bteghrine , Mansourieh , Broummana , Kafarakab , Bhamdoun , Souk El Gharb , Marjayoun , Deir Mimas , Deir Dalloum, Hmairah, Tal Abbas, Cheikh Taba, Rachaya Al Foukhar , Aita al-Foukhar , Jeddayel , Gharzouz , Gebrayel, Mhaidthe (Bikfaya) and others. Ras Beirut , Tripoli , El Mina , Chekka , Bourj Hammoud , Zahleh , Halba , Batroun , Bikfaya , Baskinta , Antelias , Ras el Matn , Aley , Bechamoun , Machgara , Hasbaya , Kfeir , Niha Bekaa , Riit, and others. Beirut

340-533: The 19th and 20th centuries. On 4 August 2020, the museum sustained significant damage and some of its artworks were destroyed as a result of a catastrophic ammonium nitrate explosion . The museum was restored thanks to various donors among them the Italian government with a donation of one million euro in May 2021. It finally reopened on 26 May 2023. The museum was expanded with four new underground floors beneath

374-460: The Arab countries. Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians have a long and continuous association with Eastern Orthodox Churches in European countries like Greece , Cyprus , Russia , Ukraine , Bulgaria , Serbia , and Romania . The church exists in many parts of the Arab world and Greek Orthodox Christians have often been noted; historically, it has had fewer dealings with Western countries than

SECTION 10

#1732775432028

408-758: The Christian militias of the Lebanese Front fight the Syrian deterrent forces. In 1982, Lebanon's president-elect Bachir Gemayel was assassinated by a bomb explosion at the Kataeb office on Sassine Street. The documentary Beirut: The Last Home Movie (1987) by Jennifer Fox shows the day-to-day life of the Bustros family, inside the Tueni-Bustros palace during the early 1980s. Mouna Bustros, who features in

442-658: The Danish embassy building in Tabaris and damaged the nearby Mar Maroun Church in Saifi. In October 2012, Wissam al-Hassan , head of the Intelligence Branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Force, was killed along with 8 others by a bomb on Sassine Street. Achrafieh contains some of Beirut's largest remaining clusters of historic buildings from the late Ottoman and French Mandate periods. However, much of this heritage

476-681: The Eastern Orthodox Church, which is composed of several autocephalous jurisdictions united by common doctrine and by their use of the Byzantine rite . They are the second largest Christian denomination within Christianity in Lebanon. Historically, these churches grew out of the four Eastern Patriarchates ( Jerusalem , Antioch , Alexandria , and Constantinople ) of the original five major episcopal sees (the Pentarchy ) of

510-619: The Lebanese aristocrat Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock built the private villa that now houses the museum. He decreed in his will that the villa be transformed into a museum. When he died in 1952, he bequeathed the villa to the city of Beirut. The museum opened in 1961, directed by Amine Beyhum, with an exhibit of works of contemporary Lebanese artists, setting a precedent for cultural events in Beirut. The Sursock Museum building exemplifies Lebanese architecture , with its Italianate (specifically Venetian ) and Ottoman architectural influences. It

544-797: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Moussa Sursock's palace , completed around 1870; and Elias Sursock's palace, which hosted General Gouraud during the French Mandate and was demolished in the 1960s. The last major villa was built for Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock in 1912, and upon his death, he left the palace to the Municipality of Beirut as a land grant or waqf, to become what is now the Sursock Museum . These palatial villas remain emblematic of Achrafieh, with one such palace, built for Abdullah Bustros, being sold for $ 22 million in 2018. Besides

578-719: The Roman Empire, which included Rome. The final split between Rome and the Eastern Churches, who came to oppose the views and claims of the Popes of Rome, took place in 1054. From that time, with the exception of a brief period of reunion in the fifteenth century, the Eastern Churches have continued to reject the claims of the Patriarchate of Rome (the Catholic Church) to universal supremacy and have rejected

612-588: The administrative quarter, such as Adlieh, are generally not considered to be part of the area. Achrafieh is therefore defined somewhat nebulously and synonymously with East Beirut. Achrafieh comprises residential areas characterized by narrow winding streets and cafes along with more commercial areas, with large apartment and office buildings and major arteries between central Beirut and the north-eastern suburbs. The following neighbourhoods are counted within Achrafieh: There are traces of human activity on

646-622: The bottom of the Accaoui hill. The first palace was built by Nicolas Sursock, probably on what is now the St Nicolas Stairs, and hosted Russia's Grand Duke Nicholas when he visited Beirut in 1872. Other villas included: Taswinat al-Tueni, a palace built by Georges Tueni in the early 1860s and named for the fence that ringed the extensive grounds; the Fadlallah Bustros Palace , completed around 1863 and now housing

680-604: The bourgeois families, many Christian refugees came to settle in the expanding suburbs, starting with the 1860 inter-communal conflict in Mount Lebanon, between Maronites and Druze, and in Damascus, between Orthodox Christians and Muslims. Dimitri Youssef Debbas was one such refugee from the Damascus conflict, who settled in Achrafieh and wrote a memoir of the conflict. Historian Leila Fawaz describes how Dimitri Debbas

714-991: The capital city of Beirut , the Metn hinterland, the Hasbayya and Rashayya districts in the southeast, and the North Governorate , in the Koura region (south of Tripoli ) and Akkar . Under the consensus of the unwritten agreement known as the National Pact among the different political leaders of Lebanon, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon and the Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon are assumed to be Greek Orthodox Christians. The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch adheres to

SECTION 20

#1732775432028

748-567: The concept of papal infallibility. Doctrinally, the main point at issue between the Eastern and Western Churches is that of the procession of the Holy Spirit, and there are also divergences in ritual and discipline. The Greek Orthodox include many free-holders, and the community is less dominated by large landowners than other Christian denominations. In present-day Lebanon, Eastern Orthodox Christians have become increasingly urbanized, and form

782-404: The current garden, at a cost of US$ 12 million. French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Lebanese architect Jacques Abou Khaled designed the expansion project. The project increased the museum's area from 1,500 square meters to 8,500 square meters and opened additional exhibition spaces, a research library, an auditorium, a restoration workshop, new storage spaces for the collection, as well as

816-873: The disaster. Very few of the remaining heritage buildings have any official protection, despite lobbying from civil society groups. A new bill was passed in 2017 by the Lebanese government to protect heritage sites around the city, marking a historical turning point for activists who have pressed for legislative action since the end of the war, but has not been ratified. Schools and universities: Catholic churches: Greek Orthodox churches: Mosques: Syriac Orthodox churches: 33°53′15.21″N 35°31′14.72″E  /  33.8875583°N 35.5207556°E  / 33.8875583; 35.5207556 Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians Lebanese diaspora : Europe Overseas Middle East Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians ( Arabic : المسيحية الأرثوذكسية الرومية في لبنان ) refers to Lebanese people who are adherents of

850-475: The film, was killed in 1989 when a rocket was fired from the nearby Rizk Tower at the palace. The Achrafieh experience of the war is also chronicled by Elias Khoury in his novel The Little Mountain (1989). In 2005, journalist Samir Kassir was assassinated by a bomb placed under his car at his residence in Achrafieh. In 2006, as part of the unrest surrounding the Danish cartoons of Muhammad , protestors torched

884-660: The largest property owners and tax payers in the city in the 1860s and 70s. The Orthodox community's communal institutions followed them. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop's palace was also relocated from the Saint George Cathedral complex in downtown Beirut to the Sursock's neighbourhood overlooking the port. The Ecole des Trois Docteurs, founded in 1835 in the Orthodox Cathedral complex in central Beirut, moved eastward until it found its present location at

918-449: The old city became increasingly cramped and overpopulated, many Greek Orthodox trading families relocated from the port into semi-rural eastern areas, where they built spacious villas on the slopes of the hill, with large gardens and views commanding the port. These Orthodox families (including the Bustros, Gebeily, Trad, Tueni, and Sursock) made their money through the silk trade as well as money exchanging and tax collection, and were some of

952-508: The open. Dimitri Debbas, who had been part of a successful business family in Damascus, rebuilt his wealth from Beirut and built a residence of his own in Achrafieh, on what is now known as Montee Debbas. Given its large Christian population, Achrafieh was a focal point of conflict during the Lebanese Civil War . The area was the Beirut heartland of the Christian militias under the Lebanese Front. The Hundred Days' War in 1978 saw

986-567: The port in the north, and to what was once a vast pine forest , to the south. The name long predates the present administrative divisions of the Municipality of Beirut , and first appears to designate a suburb in Salih bin Yahya 's History of Beirut , in the early 1400s. The writer Elias Khoury recalls how the area was called the "little mountain" ( al-jabal as-saghir ) by locals, as if it were

1020-532: The slopes of Achrafieh in antiquity. The area included a necropolis, with archeological findings now in the National Museum of Beirut, and a possible shrine around a water spring at what is today Saint Demetrios Church. After several centuries of being a small, walled city, Beirut expanded rapidly in the mid-nineteenth century, as a result of increased trade and immigration, including refugees from inter-communal conflicts in Mount Lebanon and inland Syria. As

1054-554: Was built on what was Salam football field. The built environment was badly affected by the explosion at Beirut's port in 2020, particularly in the northern parts of Achrafieh. An emergency law was promulgated in the immediate aftermath to stop the sale of land and evictions from houses around the port for the following two years. Several civil society organizations, most notably the Beirut Heritage Initiative, have been working to restore groups of houses affected by

Achrafieh - Misplaced Pages Continue

1088-469: Was destroyed during the Civil War (1975–1990), with many structures undergoing reconstruction in the following decades. The area also saw several construction booms (including during the Civil War, in the mid-1990s, and the 2000s), during which much of the built heritage including gardens was replaced with tower blocks to maximize land value. Heritage buildings have been torn down for inheritance reasons, as

1122-487: Was once ruled by seven prominent Greek Orthodox Christian families that formed Beirut's High Society for centuries: Trad, Geday, Fernaine , Araman, Bustros , Sursock , Fayyad, and Tueini . Sursock Museum The Sursock Museum ( Arabic : قصر سرسق ), officially known as the Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock Museum , is a modern and contemporary art museum in Beirut, Lebanon . In 1912,

1156-672: Was part of the first caravan fleeing Damascus, and placed into quarantine outside the city. The Bustros family persuaded the Mutessarif to allow the refugees into the town, and they were housed in the Ecole des Trois Docteurs, near the St George Cathedral. As the school became overcrowded, some were given shelter in Khalil Sursock's house, with families staying in the cellar, and men (including Dimitri Debbas) sleeping in

#27972