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Editions
Richard A. Chahine
"Chahine Gallery"
Address:
103 Mme Curie st.
(Zeidaniyeh)
Beirut - Lebanon
P.O.BOX:
116-5249
Tel & Fax:
961-1-34 65 22
961-1-34 65 23
E-mail:
gallery@inco.com.lb
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French
More than 3,500 Lebanese sites have been assembled on a database
in order to prepare this work.
The 3
Volumes contain 496 pages, 950 illustrations, 660 touristic sites with their
coordinates, Geographical map as wel l as text from 70 authors.
How lucky are those who
have had the good fortune to make acquaintance with
the Lebanon, whether it be in discovering the streets of its cities, its
villages and those distant sites or the fabulous and even more modest edifices
which nonetheless bear witness to an infinitely rich past which cannot but be
sculpted in their memory? Those houses in the villages, the souks, the Khans,
the fortified residences, the waterways, churches, mosques and monasteries, all
go together to represent ail ensemble of sentiment for a history which is still
vibrant and sentimental combine to represent a portrait of this country which
had survived tile challenges and changes that have been born out of its
encounter with the twentieth century.
We should take comfort that a conscious act of recognition of
this heritage, which itself is the result of an original yet vibrant society,
established throughout the centuries, a witness of the crusade for beauty
combined with a devotion towards the simple needs of every day life which,
always seeking out the prestige, goes back to tile time when the simple donkey
was master where today the petrol engine is king. This heritage demands respect,
conservation and indeed restoration. My wish is that these volumes, which will
contribute towards coming to terms with what remains, might also make their
contribution towards riot only its preservation but also to giving it a new
renaissance!
Doyen
Jean Richard MEMBER OF THE INSTITUT DE FRANCE
ACADEMIE
DES INSCRIPTIONS ET BELLES-LETTRES
English
Plus de 3,500 sites Libanais ont été répertoriés sur
ordinateur pour préparer ces ouvrages.
Les 3 tomes comprennent 496 pages, 950 illustrations, 660 sites
touristiques avec leurs coordonnées, une carte géographiques et des textes de
70 auteurs.
A qui a eu la bonne fortune de parcourir le Liban en
s'attardant dans les rues des villes, dans les villages, dans
des sites écartés, combien de constructions
monumentales ou modestes, mais toutes témoignages
d'un passé infiniment riche, se sont gravées dans la
mémoire? Maisons villageoises, souks, khans, manoirs
fortifiés, équipements hydrauliques, églises, mosquées,
monastères: c'est tout cet ensemble de souvenirs d'un
passé encore vivant et attachant qui contribue à dessiner
l'image du pays et celle qui demeure par-delà les épreuves
et les mutations nées de l'adaptation à la vie moderne.
Aussi faut-il se réjouir d'une prise de conscience de tout
ce patrimoine, oeuvre d'une société originale et vivante,
élaboré au cours des siècles, témoin des aspirations à la
beauté, à la dévotion, des soucis de prestige, des simples
nécessités de la vie au temps où le petit âne tenait la place
des engins motorisées. Ce patrimoine appelle respect, entretien,
restauration. Les livres que voici vont aider à le
faire connaître; puissent-ils aussi contribuer à le maintenir
et à lui rendre une vie nouvelle!
Doyen
Jean Richard MEMBER OF THE INSTITUT DE FRANCE
ACADEMIE
DES INSCRIPTIONS ET BELLES-LETTRES
[ One Hundred Years of Plastic Arts in Lebanon, vol.1 ] [ One Hundred Years of Plastic Arts in Lebanon, vol.2 ] [ Pictures from our heritage vol. 1 ] [ Pictures from our heritage vol. 2 ] [ Pictures from our heritage vol. 3 ] [ Landscapes of Lebanon ] [ ARMENIA & the Art of Engraving ] [ The Orientalists in Lebanon ] [ Lebanon and the Masterpieces of the Holly Land ] [ Lebanon & Levantine Yesteryears ]
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