The Story of Beirut was the centerpiece of the May 17-22 Beirut Cultural Festival and the best possible way to kick off the first edition of these festivals. Using Nejmeh Square’s iconic clock tower as its focal point, the show took us back to the Phoenicians, then the Roman Empire, the Ottoman rule, the French mandate, our independence in 1943, Beirut’s glorious years in the 1960s, the unfortunate civil war and the reconstruction that followed, a moment of silence in 2005 and then a dazzling light show transported us to the 2016 all accompanied with beautiful musical compositions and mixes by Guy Manoukian.
CNN wrote a lengthy article today on The Story of Beirut. I will leave you with these pictures and a small video that I compiled from various parts of the show.
Thumbs up to everyone who made this possible and to the show’s art director Daniel Georr.
Tonight is your last chance to catch the show. You can look for tickets [here].
[YouTube]
honestly this is another silly show. we often have these repititve story of beirut ( funny they display pictures of lebanese homes and towns around lebanon and the show is called story of beirut ).
we had something the same in martyrs’ sqr. few years ago. also i remember the same shows during opening ceremnies in camile chamoun stadium for asian games
then we are always proud to show what phoenician did .yet we distroyed mostly all their ruins
i dont understand why we are proud of ottoman ,french mandate, israel invasion, civi war…..etc they only brought sadness
then we end it up that the COUNTRY was rebuilt ..all what was rebuilt is Solidere
most important how do you expect a country to be advanced when most of its population can’t afford to buy a ticket (73- 230 USD) to attend the show. cultural festivals must be free so we can give an equal opportunity especially for the poor/ big families