Tag Archives | culture

La Nuit des Musées 2019 is Taking Place This Saturday April 6th

The Ministry of Culture is organizing the 6th edition of La Nuit des Musées this Saturday April 6th. And this year, 14 museums around Lebanon will be open for free to the public starting 5:00PM until late at night.

Free shuttles will be available at LibanPark parking in the Mathaf area in Beirut for people wish to visit the museums in the north and south, but reservations are mandatory through Virgin Ticketing box office to secure your place.

I highly recommend you use public transportation to visit the participating museums in Beirut by the way because it tends to get very crowded around them on this day.

Here’s the list of the participating museums:

MUSÉE NATIONAL DE BEYROUTH
de 17h00 à 23h00
“Mathaf”, rue de Damas

MIM, MUSÉE DES MINÉRAUX
de 17h00 à 23h00
Campus de l’innovation et du sport, Université Saint-Joseph

MUSÉE DE PRÉHISTOIRE LIBANAISE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ SAINT-JOSEPH
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue de l’Université Saint-Joseph, quartier Monot

VILLA AUDI
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue Georges Choueri, Achrafieh

MUSÉE NICOLAS IBRAHIM SURSOCK
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

MUSÉE ARCHÉOLOGIQUE DE L’AUB
de 17h00 à 22h00
Université américaine de Beyrouth, Ras Beyrouth

MUSÉE DE LA BANQUE DU LIBAN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Locaux de la Banque du Liban, Sanayeh

MUSÉE DU CATHOLICOSSAT DE CILICIE
de 17h00 à 23h00
Antélias

SENTIER CULTUREL À SAÏDA
MUSÉE DU SAVON
PALAIS DEBANNÉ
KHAN SACY
KHAN EL-IFRANJ
MADRASAT AÏSHA
de 17h00 à 22h00

MUSÉE DES ORPHÉLINS DU GÉNOCIDE ARMÉMIEN “ARAM BEZIKIAN”
de 17h00 à 23h00
Jbeil

MACAM – MUSÉE D’ART MODERNE ET CONTEMPORAIN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Alita, Jbeil

MUSÉE ETHNOGRAPHIQUE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BALAMAND
de 17h00 à 22h00
Koura

MUSÉE NABU
de 17h00 à 23h00
El Heri, Batroun

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Will Lycée Abdel Kader Simply Disappear?

Lycée Abdel Kader, one of the most reputable schools in Beirut that was established over 100 years ago and a prominent landmark in Beirut, is now at risk of simply disappearing without leaving a trace.

How it all started

To those who are out of the loop of what is happening with the school, here’s a brief summary:

In 1985, Hariri Foundation bought the school and managed along with the Agence pour l’Enseignement Français à l’Étranger (AEFE) and the Mission Laïque Française (MLF). And until 2005, the school AND the land it is built on were effectively under the control of the late PM Rafic Hariri so there was no need to worry about rent.

After his assassination, his wealth was eventually split among his children, and Lycée Abdel Kader’s land ended up going to his girl Hind while his wife Nazik was controlling the Hariri Foundation. So basically Hind got a piece of land that in unable to generate any profit in its current situation, and it turned out she had big plans in mind. That’s why a couple of years ago it was confirmed that she wants to start a project in it and asked the school to seek another location.

No one exactly knows what’s coming next for the school, some claim she aims to build a new mall there even though the area is so crowded already, and others say it will turn into residential towers. Keep in mind that the school has a very old castle within its premises, and no one also knows if it will be preserved or not.

The alternatives

Lycée Abdel Kader is one of several institution that shaped the identity of Beirut, that’s why the suggestions to move it outside the city were rejected by all stakeholders. On the other hand, Beirut has no big spaces left to accommodate a school as large as LAK with all the facilities they need.

Due to that, people in charge thought of renting one of the Makassed schools buildings in Beirut since some of them are currently vacant and big enough for their needs, but they were faced by the Makassed Alumni who refused to have the identity of their old school changed.

This is where things started getting problematic for the Hariri Foundation, and with very little options left they apparently discussed renting the Antonine school campus in Baabda which caused a big fuss yesterday.

One possible alternative now is to completely shut down the school in case they fail to find a place to relocate the school to. And I can’t imagine how it will be like for the students and their parents.

What can be done

It is good that people are starting to express their outrage at the thought of having the school shut down or relocated, and some politicians on twitter are doing the same, but it is not enough. The Eden Bay resort was built in Ramlet El Bayda despite all the legal actions that were taken against it and the movements that people organized in the street. That project was much more controversial since it was built on a seaside that is supposed to be a public space, but it still managed to see the light! So keyboard warriors on twitter will definitely not be able to change the fate of Lycée Abdel Kader.

On the other hand, what should be done is to channel all the energy and effort into establishing pressure groups to force the Municipality of Beirut to buy the land instead in order to keep the school in its place. It might sound like a long-shot but still worth a try.

Otherwise, I personally think that the only practical and affordable solution is for people in Makassed to accept hosting Lycée Abdel Kader because it would be a win-win situation. Makassed have many vacant buildings and are currently going through a financial crisis, so I don’t see a reason for not accepting to rent some of their properties.

What I am afraid will happen

We got used to the government failing us every single day. In order to brighten their image, the ministry of culture issued a statement today denying granting any permit to demolish the school buildings, but we all know that real estate developers can do whatever they please as long as they’re backed by our khara kleib awesome politicians.

I also really wouldn’t be surprised if the Hariri Foundation turned out to be just buying time in order to later tell their students they are out of options and they must search for another school. I know this comparison is unfair, but can you imagine the same happening to institutions like the AUB or USJ for example?

We all acknowledge Hind Hariri has all the right to do whatever she likes with her private property, but the school burned itself into the collective memory of Beirut, and what’s happening will not only affect the current students but also the whole city. If she is insisting on proceeding with her deal, then I hope someone comes up with a solution to preserve the land and the rights of all parties.

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Geography Now – Lebanon’s Episode is Out!

Geography Now is a pretty well known channel on Youtube by vlogger Paul Barbato and it discusses the world’s geography, politics, and culture one country at a time. Paul simply goes through the world countries in alphabetical order and his channel is quite popular because he delivers good information in a fun way within reasonable time (usually 10-15 minutes).

Yesterday was finally the turn for Lebanon to be the subject of his latest episode and I think he did a nice job portraying our country. He even mentioned some stuff that I’ve never heard about before such as the Striped Hyena being our national animal. (Who knew?!)

You can watch the episode below.

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40 Art Galleries and Museums in Beirut With Their Locations

It goes without saying that Reddit has some pretty awesome content that can make even the most boring days more interesting. And for those with interest in Lebanese related stuff, there’s a fairly active subreddit (/r/Lebanon) with daily updates, vintage photos, interesting videos, and more…

One interesting contribution I came across today is a “cutural map” of Beirut by /u/EDBTZ0323 with locations for 40 prominent museums and art galleries in the city. I imagined it would be quite useful for art lovers and tourists alike and so I thought of sharing it here and you may check on this link.

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Don’t Miss La Nuit des Musées This Friday April 7th

La Nuit des Musées is a cultural event in which many of the country’s museums open till a late hour at night free of charge for everyone. The Ministry of Culture has been organizing this event for three years now and its 4th edition is taking place this Friay April 7th.

Last year’s “Nuit des Musées” was quite a success that some museums had massive traffic congestion around them, so if you’re willing to do some museum hopping this Friday then I highly recommend you arrange your transportation ahead of time an avoid using your own car to save the time you will be spending trying to find a parking space.

Here’s the list of the participating museums:

MUSÉE NATIONAL DE BEYROUTH
de 17h00 à 23h00
“Mathaf”, rue de Damas

MIM, MUSÉE DES MINÉRAUX
de 17h00 à 23h00
Campus de l’innovation et du sport, Université Saint-Joseph

MUSÉE DE PRÉHISTOIRE LIBANAISE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ SAINT-JOSEPH
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue de l’Université Saint-Joseph, quartier Monnot

VILLA AUDI
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

MUSÉE NICOLAS IBRAHIM SURSOCK
de 18h00 à 00h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

MUSÉE ARCHÉOLOGIQUE DE L’AUB
de 17h00 à 22h00
Université américaine de Beyrouth, Ras Beyrouth

MUSÉE DE LA BANQUE DU LIBAN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Locaux de la Banque du Liban, Sanayeh

MUSÉE DU SAVON
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue Moutran, Saida

PALAIS DEBANNÉ
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue Moutran, Saida

MUSÉE DU CATHOLICOSSAT DE CILICIE
de 17h00 à 23h00
Antélias

MUSÉE DES ORPHÉLINS DU GÉNOCIDE ARMÉMIEN “ARAM BEZIKIAN”
de 17h00 à 23h00
Jbeil

MACAM – MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
de 17h00 à 22h00
Alita, Jbeil

MUSÉE ETHNOGRAPHIQUE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BALAMAND
de 17h00 à 22h00
Koura

Photo via sobeirut.com

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BBC Pop Up Are Coming to Beirut And Want to Hear Your Stories!

BBC Pop Up is BBC’s mobile bureau, it’s a small team that travels to different cities one month at a time to make documentaries.

They have previously been to several places like Russia and India and made some pretty interesting videos. The way they get inspired to make their stories however is different than other show, instead of deciding by themselves what to report on, they rely on suggestions submitted by the inhabitants of the place they’re visiting or other people who simply want to know more about a certain topic related the country they’re in.

Throughout the month of February, BBC Pop Up announced on their twitter account that they will be flying to Beirut, and in a country like ours with countless problems and so many awesome things at the same time, I bet they will have a quite busy month! From the refugee crisis, to waste management, messed up transportation system, our food culture, and cool places off the beaten track like little Armenia (Bourj Hammoud) and cities like Tripoli and Saida… there’s just so much to talk about.

You can submit your ideas to BBC Pop Up through their website or write to them on bbcpopup@bbc.co.uk.

 

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Peeta Planet – Beirut Episode

PeetaPlanet™ is a travel series about two brothers from the United Arab Emirates who go on a worldwide, social media influenced, journey of cultural interaction. We call it #SocialTravel

Season One will features Singapore, Turkey, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Australia, USA, Argentina, Kenya, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

At the time of filming this episode, most countries were issuing warnings to avoid trips to Lebanon. We decided to go anyway. The majority of our crew were Americans and had never been there before. Everything they knew about Lebanon was in the context of decades of civil war, bombings and assassinations. On top of this, their families in the US were worried and rightfully so. How else is one to feel when the majority of news about a country is that of danger and unrest?

What we found during our time there were young thought-leaders who acknowledged the challenges of living in Lebanon, yet decided to stay and help influence positive change. This is their story.

As for the crew… Lebanon turned out to be one of their favorite destinations. Should you decide to visit the middle east then we recommend you try Lebanon. It will change your perspective completely.

For more about Peeta Planet, you can check out their pages on Facebook and YouTube.

via @MayaZankoul

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I offered you pleasure – Another banned movie in Lebanon

“I offered you pleasure” is a short Lebanese movie by Farah Shaer that follows a shiite woman named Iman, who uses her religious right of performing pleasure marriage (zawaj el mot3a) to gather blessings for her late husband, and eventually creating a lot of controversy in her conservative surroundings.

As per this post by “STOP Cultural Terrorism in Lebanon” on Facebook, the movie seems to have been banned in Lebanon due to the fact that it tackles a sensitive subject after trying to submit it to two local film festivals and getting rejected.

“To all the people living in Beirut who wanted to watch the short film “I Offered You Pleasure” (وهبتك المتعة) of which I was the Director, I tell you this:

Unfortunately, the Lebanese Film Festival circuit seems is as corrupt as our governments, as we’ve presented the film to two local festivals & they both rejected the film.

On the other hand, the World’s Biggest Short Film Festival (Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival) chose it from more than 6150 entries from around the world (& as the only short film to represent Lebanon) …. It toured also to the biggest festival in Asia (Busan International Film Festival) & is now going on a tour between North Africa, Europe, & Latin America … but in Beirut…. well… what can we say… it’s a real shame … seems we will never be able to show it here…”

http://www.clermont-filmfest.com/index.php?&m=134&c=3&id_film=200027897&o=106

Trailer >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=limIyXVZ_Ys

So basically, you can make a movie about anything in Lebanon except politics and religion!

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Beirut Theater will be demolished

I heard about the demolishing of Beirut Theater located in Ain El-Mrayseh earlier in November but coudn’t find any piece of news online to support the story until today morning.

I found this post by Marie-Josée Rizkallah over at “L’espace lunaire” blog about the matter, and a petition is now online calling for a sit-in in front of the Lebanese ministry of culture to save the theater by labeling it as a cultural heritage. Being real, I guess we all know these stuff never worked and the theater will eventually be demolished.

Anyway, a friend of mine told me that Beirut Theater is now open free for people who want to exhibit their work or performance until it completely closes down anytime soon.

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