ABOUT THE TOUR:

'In 1994, I saw the sky through the bullet-ridden Barakat building on the demarcation line of Beirut and entered to discover its unique avant-garde architecture. I was amazed by the way the building’s visual transparency, designed by the architect to connect the building and its people to the city was so abused during the civil war by the snipers, disconnecting the city and its people. Since that day, I started touring the building with people to propel my fight to save it from demolition. To me it represented Beirut pre-war through the archives I found under the dust and debris, during the war through the sniper additions, graffiti and bullet holes covering its walls, and after the war through my fight for the preservation of our heritage, identity, and memory against the sweeping amnesia. The tour tells the story of the journey from the Barakat Building to the Museum of Memory in the city of Beirut.' 

A tour with Mona El Hallak inside the Beit Beirut Museum, a restored landmark by Architect Yousef Haidar.

Meeting Point: Beit Beirut

ABOUT THE ORGANIZER:

Mona El Hallak is a Beirut-based architect and heritage preservation activist, a graduate of the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Syracuse University – Florence Program.  In January 2017, she joined AUB as the director of the Neighborhood Initiative that aims to mobilize the full power of AUB for the public good in Ras Beirut, promoting the neighborhood’s livability, vitality, and diversity through research and outreach activities. She led several heritage preservation campaigns and succeeded in saving the Barakat Building—now Beit Beirut, a museum of memory and a cultural & urban center. In 2013, she was given the Ordre National du Mérite au grade de Chevalier from the President of the French Republic, in recognition of her work and achievements in preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of Beirut.

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