Download the first issue of the APLH cultural publication.

We hope you like it and (even better!) contribute to its articles!

the APLH team

APLH gazette-issue 1

Law background

our APLH donation account is accessible to anyone who wishes to help us finance the following projects (and more to follow) from anywhere in the world:

Historical
- restauration of the Maameltein Roman bridge
- historical re-valorization of all archeological bridges in Lebanon and
their compilation into a book
Architectural
-facade restauration and historical documentation of architecture
-reconstruction of the Phoenician Port
Educational
-workshop, seminars and conferences at universities
Artistical
-photo exhibition: Urban transformations in Beirut- Before and After
Urban
-restauration and revalorization of traditional stairs in beirut
Cultural
-a 220km relay race spanning the entire lebanese coast with runners starting at simultaenously, tripoli (north lebanon) and tyre (south lebanon), relaying an olympic flame to other runners stationed in between, to finally meet at the beirut museum in the middle.

Legal

-The Hippodrome Case

-The Phoenician Port case

Here is our APLH BLOM Bank IBAN and contact info:

E-mail: blom.tabaris@blom.com.lb

Telephone: 01 203144

Swift code : BLOMLBBX

Bank name: BLOM BANK SAL

Branch: Tabaris-Sursock tower-Beirut-Lebanon

Account’s holder name: ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE LEBANESE HERITAGE

IBAN current account: 28 0014 0000 5002 3041 3423  5715

When an NGO asks for donations, always enquire about this NGO’s permit number. the APLH permit number is 1764. organizations who dont give you their permit number are frauds who are abusing your trust and should be reported.

For Lebanese expats, use these links to acquire heritage buildings in lebanon, as groups or as individuals:

http://www.3akarat.net/real-estate-house-For-Sale-batroun-el-batroun-north-lebanon-6536.realestate

http://www.realestate.com.lb/Listing/Old_House/34540.html

http://3akarat.net/real-estate-house-For-Sale-batroun-el-batroun-north-lebanon-6535.realestate

http://www.bazarm2.com/north/daael-house-210m%C2%B2/

http://www.3akarat.net

http://www.realestate.com.lb

http://www.bazarm2.com

APLH is in the midst of legal procedures against people responsible for the demolition of the phoenician port and the tempering with the roman hippodrome. 

we already spent in excess of 3000$ in legal procedures between referred judges and shura council fees.
we paid that amount, thanks to your contributions.

we now need at least 1000$ to continue this battle.
your help is most appreciated!!! we count on every responsible lebanese to send the APLH any amount they can. every amount in excess of 100$ receives a APLH pin as a gift for your support.

we sincerely thank you for your trust and for believing in our efforts in this bitter war against barbarism, non-culture and absence of vision.

the APLH crew

[for foreign money transfers pls write to info@protect-lebaneseheritage.com so that we send you our APLH fundraiser IBAN]

If you wish to become an APLH member, you need to be Lebanese, but these are the documents you also need to present:

1-filled membership in english or arabic (you can download it here)

2-a (cleared) sejell adli (judicial file)

3-a copy/scan of your ID or your ekhraj eid

4-a 120000LBP subscription fee. this fee will then be renewed yearly (100000 instead of 120000 LBP)

5-a CV to include in our archive

the APLH member will receive his/her laminated  membership card (renewable yearly) and a strictly limited edition APLH double pin as a welcome gift. The pins will be available as of end of this month and we will post their picture as soon as we receive our first shipment

Looking forward to have you on board.

APLH ][ APPL

The lebanese Ministry of Culture and the maritime ‘experts’ hired by Venus real estate and the Ministry of Culture argued the 4 meter wide slipways found on plot 1398 (the phoenician port) could never have fit a boat. Maybe they were thinking of the Titanic.

A basic online research produced the following Phoenician boat replica, with its 1/10 ratio of width versus length (meaning a 3 meter width would result in a 30 meter boat):

based on the following site, the average Phoenician ship is 20 meters in length.

this is supported by the following illustration (if you can use the men inside to give you an idea of the ship’s proportions):

Further, and based on the following picture of an actual Phoenician boat docked in Byblos, and using the Range Rover in the picture as a visual aid for proportion (such an SUV is 4.5 meter long), we can deduce that Phoenician boat never exceeded a 4 meter width and could very well have been hauled into a 4 meter slipway:

However, our debate is not at all whether the destroyed site on plot 1398 is or is not a port.

How can ‘experts’, ‘archeologists’ and ‘historians’ stand behind the building over such a unique and intriguing structure dating back millenia, is a mystery to me.

Lebanese Minister of Culture Gaby Layoun claimed to embody the new spirit of renewal and reform that would right the wrongs of Solidere. Solidere as we all know, committed the worst atrocities in post war Beirut; under the guise of rebuilding the Beirut center, it proceeded to do worse than the civil war actually did: Solidere disfigured Beirut and removed almost all traces of identity from the heart of Lebanon, turning it into a generic city with its standard high rises, most of them empty because most of them belonging to foreigners.

But I digress.

Layoun claimed he was against all the Solidere ‘philosophy’ (if we can call it that) and he was set, as a minister of culture, to return Beirut and Lebanon to its former cultural glory.

And we were quite happy with that.

Yesterday, under tacit permission from Layoun, a whole Phoenician port discovered on plot 1398, was bulldozed down to its last stone, by Venus Real Estate, to make way for 3 (beautiful and luxurious) towers no honest Lebanese can afford even if through some miracle, he got to save the needed money over several cumulative  lifetimes. The bulldozing happened after the APLH knew something fishy was going on at the port and organized a flash mob to get experts, archeologists and responsible lebanese citizens to stand behind a symbol of their identity, history and culture. Of course the experts never came. The archeologists were too scared for their jobs and reputation, to even dare to come. And the citizens were either busy burning tires somewhere, or slaving at their deskjobs, or busy hating the ‘other’ political party, or also, busy downloading the latest smartphone app… They were all busy. I understand them. There are priorities in life. There are bills to pay. Heritage doesnt pay the bills.

Well let me tell you what: Heritage DOES pay the bills. Only, you have to preserve it so that it translates into touristic revenue and a cultural treasure. If you preserve it, it will pay your bills. It will create jobs. It will keep you in your country. But I understand the lebanese wants to pay his/her bills NOW. To buy the SUV, like, RIGHT NOW… So yes, I understand you. There are priorities in life.

Back to Layoun. Who, let’s remind our readers, vowed to right the wrongs of Solidere. Well, Now that he did worse than Solidere, we at APLH, would like to congratulate him on this remarkable achievement. It’s an epic feat, to outdo Solidere… He will retort that this was a 2500 year old qarry! Not a port! We would tell him that, qarry, or port, this was public property. And you dont destroy public property. Then we would remind him that his protégé Dr Assad Seif, an archeologist himself, stated that this archeological find was of utmost importance and needed to be preserved.

Dear Lebanese people. What are you working for? your jobs, careers, and the time spent in traffic to earn a life, found a family or just to succeed in life, what is it for? What’s its context? the meetings, the projects, the competition,… To be a successful, happy lebanese? or just to be successful and happy? to paraphrase the Bible, what is it worth, to win all the world’s riches and to lose yourself?

You might tell me ‘I’m a citizen of the world!’. In that case, I’m sorry I wasted your time but it was nice knowing you. However, we are on 2 different wavelengths because you’re a citizen of the world while I admire the germans for their precision, the english for their authenticity, the japanese for their discipline, the scandinavians for their technology or the italians for their artistry. I celebrate true diversity and identity while you celebrate a generic, amorphous and unidentifiable NON-identity. I’ve picked my side, and hope to see you with us.

Tomorrow, Thursday at noon, in front of the ministry of culture, the APLH will demand the resignation (and trial) of the minister of culture, and the expropriation of Venus Real Estate. This is only possible through massive public turnout.

Josef Haddad

Secretary and co-founder ][ APLH

See you on Friday 22 of June, behind the monroe hotel, facing the VENUS site where the Phoenician port was discovered (and is scheduled to be bulldozed to accomodate 3 very nice and shiny towers no honest Lebanese can afford). Beirut, Lebanon.

At last…

when reasonable discussions fail the last resort is recourse to justice. The struggle has just begun: Today the hippodrome of wadi abou jmil, tomorrow the phoenician port and other

threatened landmarks. Read more about the decision freeze here.

We count on responsible Lebanese citizens to emulate what the APLH has just did and to have faith in their unity. We also Count on you to notify us wherever you see a heritage landmark that’s threatened (green parks, forests, buildings, archeological sites, sea shore, etc).

the APLH’s most recent activity in April 2012 was a court overturning of a decision by none other than the Ministry of Culture, a move no NGO tried before. Some call it temerity, we call it civic duty and taking matters in our own hands.

The Hippodrome case, highlighted by an APLH manifestation in march 24, 2012,

is about a decision form the ministry of culture to grant permission to build a private

residential complex on the premices of parcel 1370, where an important part of the hippodrome is located.

Being a public site and an archeological find of utmost importance (in a basic comparison, the hippodrome of Beirut still contains the ‘spina’, while the Circus Maximus in Rome, doesnt have a spina anymore, yet it’s still preserved by the Italian government. Here in Lebanon, having more elements essential to a Roman period hippodrome, apparently doesnt encourage the Lebanese government to preserve such an archeological gem.

The spina is the middle structure in the middle of a hippodrome, around which the horses or chariots rotate to complete a race lap.

the APLH’s legal move aims to keep archeological sites like the hippodrome, open to the public, protected from private projects, restored and integrated in a fitting urban setting

that suits their importance (adequate greenery, public parks).