Heritage monuments suffer neglect

Article by Leila Hatoum on the fate of Lebanese commemorative statues. The original statue of Béchara El-Khoury, defaced during the civil war, was replaced by a new statue 3.6 metres tall and weighing 3.5 tonnes, commissioned by the committee of the Friends of Béchara El-Khoury on the recommendation of Rafic Hariri. Berberi explains that he began this work in 1998 and completed it in 2000; four years later, the statue was still waiting to be installed for lack of an official decision. The late president's son, Michel Khoury, sums it up: « Apparently, some people have never tasted independence and they never will. » The article also reveals the artist's personal project: a future Martyrs' statue, some twenty metres high, in the form of a cedar covered in bronze, with a fountain at its base. Berberi remembers seeing, at fourteen, the old statue of the Martyrs of Beirut, mistaking it at first for a cinema advertisement.

Original article in English.