Protect Lebanese Heritage

House of Cashmere founders  (a Scandinavian couple who came to Lebanon and got attached to the Mediterranean way of life) have converted a traditional Lebanese house in Ain Aar (Bikfaya road, Mount Lebanon) into a charming cashmere and leather accessory shop. With the owners’ kind permission, we were allowed to post the inside pictures of the HoC store just to show the enduring charm of an old Lebanese house, should one decide to give it a new purpose, be it a shop, gallery, school, museum, boutique hotel or workshop.

To Lebanese of the world and fans of Lebanon, work with us to save what’s left of these immortal (but sadly vulnerable) houses in Lebanon and mostly Beirut! Dont underestimate your help as an individual, you will always make a difference!

from Elodie Morel’s blog on the nefarious effects of unchecked development:

http://chroniquesbeyrouthines.20minutes-blogs.fr/archive/2007/11/07/double-face.html

the church dates from the 16th century and was badly restored in the 90’s with massive amounts of concrete disfiguring the old stone.

PhD architect and restoration expert Dr Antoine Fischfisch is proposing to make a thorough study to restore the church, for the cost of 9750$. you can view photos of the church in our photo gallery.

Help us initiate phase one of this project which is the detailed study on what is needed to restore the St Georges church, be an active part in the preservation of your culture and memory. you can send us donations or support us through purchasing our t-shirts. Whoever is interested to take a closer look at the study outline made by Dr Fischfisch, pls email us to request a full scan. the picture here is a cellphone photo. Counting on your cooperation!

The ‘girlie’ sleeveless shirts feature the same design on the back, as that of the regular shirt. Available for local pick up/sale or for worldwide shipping. insured/expedited shipping is available at an additional charge.

Our sales will go to fund miscellaneous cultural projects (exhibitions, sporting events, etc) , and will also keep us online and allow us to reach like-minded people through a wider range of heritage-related, quality items.

After one year of activism trying to save Lebanon’s traditional buildings and architectural memory, we as a group, NGO and individuals, are starting to see through the pattern of corruption weaved by the different components of the Lebanese society, government and individuals alike. every building we saved from demolition was an immense victory for us as a group. we thought we made it and we were really proud we managed to aid the ministry of culture freezing the demolition of said or said building. months passed and we got caught again by the frenzy of daily life, work, deadlines, and traffic jams. then we started noticing.
those very same buildings we fought to keep and protect, were being stealthily, inexorably
demolished again. some individuals even went to unbelievable lengths of vanity and vandalism we will disclose in due time (soon we promise) with photos, on the upcoming association site.

silly us! individuals influent enough, can always manage to ‘pressure’ the ministry of culture or any ministry to remove the freezing off their building so they can demolish it. but this doesnt mean we should give up. on the contrary, we are addressing our plight to every lebanese or non lebanese, local resident or living abroad, to buy off these houses through the association and restore them for public interest, since the government is unable/unwilling to buy those houses or maintain them.

yes we’re thinking BIG. that’s why the Association was founded in the first place: to promote old houses restoration through funds raised by us, the APLH, with diaspora and local money. the houses bought will be owned by all the people who contributed to buy them. a contract will be signed online between them and the association affirming that the house in question will be restored to original shape and reintegrate the urban fabric with a new function benefiting the public (boutique hotel, museum, school, art gallery, library, workshop, conference quarters…).

if we count on government bureaucracy to save our heritage and memory we can be sure that nothing will be done and if it ever is, it will be done wrong and too late.

this is a call to motivated individuals to join us save our country’s memory from rampant and barbaric development.

We are…

-A civil association for the preservation of the Lebanese heritage.We are interested in revitalizing the cultural sense and interest within the Lebanese society and its historical/cultural background.

-A non religious, non political movement and intend on remaining so.

-A non-lucrative group of benevolent individuals.

-An association with strictly cultural and nationalistic-typed activities. Our work (short and long term projects)  aims at the preservation and promotion of heritage-related, cultural and historical aspects of the Lebanese identity.

note: we have many ideas. ideas need funding. therefore we count on your donations to make the association’s projects come true. this blog is set to monitor whatever project we might have in progress so that donators from anywhere in the world can follow the project as it moves forward.

Our work can be:

-restoring an old traditional building/structure

-giving an old building a new function that’s relevant to its modern context

-urban landscaping

-various cultural events

note II: modernity is beautiful. thoughtless, neurotic modernity is not.  we’re against random ‘development’ that builds anywhere it can with no thought to the surroundings or premices it’s building upon.