Christopher Atkinson MEDIA

Taken in December 2016, this series of photographs expose views that many in Lebanese government and in Beirut’s burgeoning real estate businesses would rather not be displayed. Lebanon’s devastating civil war, 1975 to 1990, is manifestly scored into the remaining shell of the Beirut Holiday Inn (Wogenscky and Hindie, completed 1974). The scarred structure has subsequently become a visual reminder of both the slow healing processes resulting from the conflict and the currently precarious geopolitical situation within the region.

 

The building, originally opened with a revolving rooftop restaurant, was initially very popular with Lebanon's rich and glamorous and the international jet-set. However, with the onset of the civil war just a few months later, the building quickly became strategically important for all sides in the conflict for which it has subsequently become synonymous. Many thousands of lives were lost with the building periodically changing hands between the warring factions as the frontline shifted.

 

In rapidly evolving twenty-first century central Beirut, across Fakhredine from the Holiday Inn,  is the multilayered Beirut Terraces (Herzog and de Meuron, completed 2016). The controversial massive recent redevelopment of central Beirut is exemplified by the eye-wateringly expensive Terraces. Monied international investors are currently triumphing in this central area, as ordinary Beruitis are struggling to maintain a foothold in their city.

 

The Holiday Inn is currently used as a garage for a fleet of Lebanese Army tanks. I hope they illustrate the complexity and problems of a healing city in transition.