Four years ago a 1,000-kilogramme bomb blew to pieces the limousine of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, killing him and 19 others. It was only one of many political assassinations in Beirut. The Lebanese architect Joe Mounzer decided to make a route along the places were famous politicians and thinkers were killed.

Four years ago a 1,000-kilogramme bomb blew to pieces the limousine of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, killing him and 19 others. It was only one of many political assassinations in Beirut. The Lebanese architect Joe Mounzer decided to make a route along the places were famous politicians and thinkers were killed.

The tour starts at Sassin Square in the Christian neighbourhood Achrafye, where a monument was erected for incumbent president Bashir Gemayel, who led the Christian Falangist militia during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980s.

34-year-old Gemayel (son of Pierre Gemayel who founded the Falangist party) was killed nine days before he was to be inaugurated as president. Joe Mounzer was only five years old when Gemayel was assassinated in 1982.

"I was only starting to realise that it was war....I can remember the day clearly. I saw my mother crying on our balcony. I knew that Genayel was to be our president, but I didn't know anything else about him. I was sad because my mother was sad."

A man with a backpack is standing near Gemayel's monument. He talks about Gemayel as if the assassination had happened yesterday.

"On the day that Gemayel was killed our dreams were stolen. Our hope was murdered."

Street scene
In the past decades dozens of politicians and others have been killed. Monuments for these people are strewn along the boulevards. The monuments bear witness to the divisions in Lebanese society, such as those between the Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, Maronite and Orthodox Christians and Armenians.

Joe Mounzer designed the tour as a means of explaining Beirut's history. The next stop on the tour Martyr's Square (pictured left).

"Martyr's Square is devoted to the memory of both Christian and Muslim Lebanese who were hanged by the Turks during Ottoman rule and dumped in a mass grave. When the French ruled Lebanon following the First World War they wanted to give them a decent burial. However, neither the Christians nor the Muslims wanted the bodies. Finally the Druze allowed them to be buried in their cemetery. This shows that people in this country can never agree to anything."

End of the ‘happy decennium'

From Martyr's Square we walk to the monument for Rafik Hariri. When he was in office (1992-1998, 2000-2004) it was relatively peaceful. Some Lebanese described it as the ‘happy decennium'.

His assassination in 2005 is followed by a wave of assassinations, an Israeli invasion and internal power struggles. His death also led to mass opposition to the dominant role Syria had been playing in Lebanon.

Exuberant downfall
In spite of its bustling character, Beirut seems to be overshadowed by death. The prominent journalist Samir Kassir wrote: "Beirut is as exuberant in its manner of living as in its downfall." Kassir earned his own monument by being killed a short time after Hariri was assassinated.

The route along the monuments ends at the sea, at Beirut's beach. Joe Mounzer says that most people in Beirut want to die here, where Lebanese people go to find peace.

"Here on the beach people stare at the horizon. What do they see? Nothing. But looking into nothing in the distance gives the Lebanese their moment of peace."

Joe Mounzer's political assassination route is part of an alternative tourist guide to Beirut called Beyroutes. The co-production of Lebanese and Dutch architects and artists will be published in the spring.

* RNW translation (fs)