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“The Album,” the city that refuses to die, Gebran Tueni writes Beirut in pictures

Beirut, memories ... located in the “album, from the photos taken by Mr. Jeeran Toye, editor-in-chief of Ajlah and Al-Nahar Al-Arabi and International”, in 1982, and the foreword was written by his father, Ambassador Ghassan Tueni, on the authority of Dar and Hashit, 119 black and white and color photos, with various dimensions. The camera is here It tells the story of a city’s history in a picture, so the old and new memories appear as a tape of pictures that the eye does not satisfy from staring at them. The cover is on fire with a picture of the war on Lebanon, and the introduction refuses death to Beirut. Beirut emerges from among its imperfections more strength, splendor, and beauty, a city whose spirit does not hold.. sometimes defeated, but never subdued. Drawn between the sea and tricks, its destiny is peace, the laws. Beirut is its wisdom, patience and moderation... Beirut, hostage and challenge, is a bridge between continents, and its geography is the center of convergence for generations, where worlds argue. And immortality, ... from the words of Gan Tueni in the pictures of Beirut yesterday and today awaiting the Beirut of tomorrow Beirut from the picture Beirut drawn with a pencil and in which the old Byronic houses, camel drivers, men wearing dishdasha and shawls, mosques, palm trees, boats in the sea, hills of tricks almost guarding the sea, barrages and the Libyan to a picture The port of Beirut in the distant past, sailing boats similar to those Christophe Colomis rode in his discovery of the new world, and a new picture.

Some of them are relieved from the trouble of long travel. Another picture of the port with its red tiles, and the war and tin sheets hated it, houses without a roof, and ships, of which only masts remained after they sank in the Mediterranean Sea. The large and escapes pulled by the rope The picture tells us that the car | You have not yet reached Martyrs' Square. Another picture of Martyrs' Square

The sixties, a few palm trees and cars, we stand in neat rows, transport buses, and some pedestrians sway over the iron ropes that used to fence the square and the old and new buildings nearby and the crowd. Electricity is drawn by bullets, remnants of traffic lights, and buildings as if they were not harmed by war. The small wall of Rai from when and how It was replaced by a country cinema, a water fountain, trees and the Ottoman horses, the statue of the martyrs that appears from afar, palm trees, a long corridor of crowded cars, everything overlooking the sea, the hand of the martyrs through the memorial, still carrying the torch of freedom. The holiday of sandbags, and the role of Elia, the days of her supervision, glow, and clean streets.

And around it and the same picture, but after the fire and burning, and after Al-Sondus Al-Akhdar spawned, Hufa, Al-Lazariya magazine, Shushu theater on the ground and the automatic, Al-Mansur bin Masaf mosque, ruins and destruction. A picture as if from World War III, pictures of the markets, including a picture of the goldsmiths’ market when the gold was shining and the various bracelets were sparkling and the doves were waiting on their work clothes and the weapons were coming in front of the gold and silver facades. As for the picture of the war in the gold market, the outlets, nothing remains of it but an arch, rubble, and dust that spread the pictures of Abu Al-Nasr market, which was thick with weeds and chariots. And the marketer is a picture from the days of howling with vegetables and fruits in the heart of the market before it was covered by the weeds of war and its warblers, and the fish market in a wonderful picture, leaving with a large fish from its tail, and on his face the smile of bread that his village is in joy, and a man looking towards the camera, and the packed fish is almost jumping from the platform to the sea or He's just coming

From the sea, pictures of the war in the fish market, which was devoured by the war, as well as the Siege Market, Ayas Market in its prime, before he surrendered the rubble, Al-Atili Pool, Al-Ajami Restaurant, and buildings destroyed by the war and left it prey to sweet and heartbreaking memories. Before the war destroyed it, and the Al-Franj market, whose real estate map would have been laid down by the war had it not been for the blue plaque that is still hanging on the wall of the ruins of the Bay of Saint-Georges »From the time when the sea rocks surrounded it and the sailboat near its shore and a wonderful urban picture of the Saint-Georges region »and Al-Zaytouna with its hotels and two buildings As if it were a concrete forest, it is the image of the urbanization when it was the Holiday Inn Hotel in Gaza, and its image for a moment is the image of Riyadh al-Solh Square when it was known as Asour Square, and it looks like pillars and rope carts, then the image of the square during the construction days, as it was at the beginning of the war, and the cars around it, and Banks Street did not change much, then he photographed

Houses of emergency pleasure in Al-Mutanabbi Street, closed houses in old and new pictures and famous names such as Harb, including Marika, the doors are closed on the day everything was fine, and pictures of the given street with barrels and suspended car tires, doors and windows taken off, trees bare, arches entwined, and pictures as if they were from the book of the end of the world e Abukalyps » Beirut is planted with the worst, and every lick of a pearl is lying on the beach, and pictures of missiles explode over the city, as if they were lightning bolts and light explosions that sparkled or signs of fire. The authentic Beirut makes its way through the light, followed by the sea and surrounded by peace, frightening, the disk of the sun is like a fried egg in the liver of the sky. Pictures of Beirut yesterday and today are punctuated by the image of the return of spring to Beirut: the Tower of Murr rising to the clouds and bulldozers of Oger - frankincense, carrying antiquities to be thrown into trucks and the sky is clear
to rebuild the city that refuses Death

Abdullah Aboud