Turning Beirut’s rich, complicated history into a coffee-table book sounds almost impossible. Somehow, Assouline did it anyway.
The publishing house turns its lens to Lebanon’s capital with Beirut Habibi, a new addition to its Classics Collection that captures the city through its history, architecture, people and unmistakable creative spirit.
Written by acclaimed Lebanese novelist and professor Charif Majdalani, the 304-page hardcover takes you through the many versions of Beirut: a city that has spent centuries evolving, reinventing itself and carrying its past along with it.
And Beirut has quite the past. Once a Phoenician port, later a Roman colony, an Ottoman centre and part of the French Mandate, the city wears its history in layers. From grand buildings and historic landmarks to bustling neighbourhoods and the Mediterranean coastline, traces of its many eras are still woven into everyday life.
Across its pages, Beirut Habibi brings together archival photographs and contemporary imagery, creating a visual conversation between the Beirut of yesterday and the city it continues to become.
There are glimpses of the city’s glamorous past, from Boulevard de Paris in the 1970s and its legendary cafés and waterfront to the Casino du Liban, once a magnet for an international crowd. Elsewhere, the book moves into the Beirut many know today, featuring places like Gemmayze, Sursock Palace and the city’s ever-changing streets.
The result is more than a collection of pretty pictures. Beirut Habibi is a love letter to a city that has survived, shifted, and reinvented itself countless times and somehow never lost its character along the way.
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