Picture taken in February 2012

I was asked by one of the blog’s readers if the steeple was done or not yet and I was able to get a one-week old picture shown below. As you can see, the steeple still needs few months to be completed and maybe more if they keep working at this slow rate.

I’ve always wondered about the reason behind building this steeple, and whether it was really to match Al Amine mosque’s minarets but I was never able to get a proper answer. I am also not sure whether it was Rafic Hariri who funded it or not. If the Church is funding this project, I think it would have been wiser to use the money and help the needy and poor.

Speaking of Al Amine mosque, and even though I find it beautiful, I never saw it fit with its surrounding and believe it should have been located somewhere else. Every time I look at it, I feel like someone rebuilt and restored Beirut in a certain way and then someone else just came and put the mosque there without looking around.

Most of Beirut’s religious structures (Churches, mosques) are well integrated with the surrounding buildings, except for Al Amine’s mosque.

Picture by Gino