Achrafieh, Beirut
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Achrafieh () is an
upper-class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...
area in eastern
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
. In strictly administrative terms, the name refers to a sector (''secteur'') centred on Sassine Square, the highest point in the city, as well as a broader quarter (''quartier''). In popular parlance, however, Achrafieh refers to the whole hill that rises above Gemmayze in the north and extends to
Badaro Badaro is a residential neighborhood and business hub in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by the Pierre Gemayel avenue on the north, the Hippodrome on the west, Sami el Solh avenue on the east, Beirut's pine fo ...
in the south, and includes the
Rmeil Rmeil () is one of the neighborhoods of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. It is located near Ashrafieh, and Saifi. The neighborhood is known for its Greek Orthodox churches such as Saint Georges and Saint Nicolas. Cultural areas are located in Rm ...
quarter. Although there are traces of human activity dating back to the
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
era, the modern suburb was heavily settled by
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
merchant families from Beirut's old city in the mid-nineteenth century. The area contains a high concentration of Beirut's Ottoman and French Mandate era architectural heritage. During the civil war, when Beirut was separated into eastern and western halves by the Green Line, Achrafieh changed from a mostly
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
residential area (compared to bustling, cosmopolitan Hamra, in
Ras Beirut Ras Beirut () is an upscale residential neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon. It has a mixed population of Christians, Muslims and Druze, and is associated with nonsectarian relations between members of thee groupings. Ras Beirut is home to some of ...
) to a commercial hub in its own right. In the early 2000s, the area became a focal point of the city's real estate boom.


Overview

The etymology of Achrafieh most likely relates to the steep hill that defines the area, although this is contested. The area centers on Beirut's highest point, the hill of Saint Dimitrios, and comprises neighbourhoods that slope towards the port in the north, and to what was once a vast pine forest, to the south. The name long predates the present administrative divisions of the
Municipality of Beirut Beirut City Hall, also known as the Municipality of Beirut, is a landmark building built in downtown Beirut, Lebanon in 1924,A Global History of Architecture By Francis D. K. Ching, Mark M. Jarzombek, Vikramaditya Prakas page 712 and has becom ...
, and first appears to designate a suburb in Salih bin Yahya's ''History of Beirut'', in the early 1400s. The writer
Elias Khoury Elias Khoury (; 12 July 1948 – 15 September 2024) was a Lebanese novelist and advocate of the Palestinian cause. His novels and literary criticism have been translated into several languages. In 2000, he won the Prize of Palestine for his bo ...
recalls how the area was called the "little mountain" (''al-jabal as-saghir'') by locals, as if it were a small outpost of nearby Mount Lebanon on the coast. Administratively, Achrafieh today designates a quarter of the city, made up of 9 sectors (Achrafieh, Adlieh, Corniche el-Nahr, Furn el-Hayek, Ghabi, Hotel Dieu, Mar Mitr, Nasra, Sioufi). However, Saint Nicolas and Sursock Street, which are strictly within the quarter of Rmeil, have always been considered part of Achrafieh by local residents and real estate developers alike. Similarly, certain southern parts of the administrative quarter, such as Adlieh, are generally not considered to be part of the area. Achrafieh is therefore defined somewhat nebulously and synonymously with East Beirut. Achrafieh comprises residential areas characterized by narrow winding streets and cafes along with more commercial areas, with large apartment and office buildings and major arteries between central Beirut and the north-eastern suburbs. The following neighbourhoods are counted within Achrafieh: * Accaoui, a hill leading from Gemmayze up to the Sursock neighbourhood * Furn el-Hayek * Karm el-Zeitoun, a densely populated settlement that was established by Armenian refugees in the 1920s, who were later joined by Syriac Christians. Syrian & Egyptian laborers (mainly males) as well as domestic migrant workers (mainly females) also reside in the area but live communally in shared apartments to minimize their living expenses *Mar Mitr, named after the Saint Demetrios Church, hosts one of the city's main Greek Orthodox cemeteries * Mar Naqoula or Saint Nicolas, named after the parish church; includes Sursock Street with its old palatial villas, the St Nicolas Stairs (
Escalier de l'Art L'Escalier de L'Art, also known as the L'Escalier de Saint-Nicolas is a public stairway in Beirut, Lebanon. It is located in the Rmeil district, providing a pedestrian link between Rue Gouraud and Rue Sursock uphill. Its proximity to the Sursoc ...
) and many office buildings (Sofil Center, Ivory Building) *Nasra, named after the Dames de Nazareth girls school *
Rue Monot Rue Monnot (), is a street in Beirut, Lebanon. It is located east of Beirut Central District, in the Sodeco neighborhood of the Achrafieh district, and named after Father Ambroise Monnot, a French Jesuit who founded the Saint Joseph University of ...
* Rue Huvelin * Sassine Square, a busy road intersection atop the Saint Dimitrios hill, roughly coterminous with the Achrafieh sector, named after the Sassine family, the original landowners *Sodeco Square *
Sioufi The Sioufi Garden (in Arabic language, Arabic حديقة السيوفي) is a public garden in the Achrafieh District of Beirut in Lebanon. The garden overlooks Emile Lahoud, Avenue President Émile Lahoud, the Beirut River, and the summits of M ...
, a residential area on the southern slopes of the hill, built on land that was used for hunting in the mid twentieth century; named for the Sioufi family, which established a furniture factory here * Tabaris Square and Abdel Wahab Street


History

There are traces of human activity on the slopes of Achrafieh in antiquity. The area included a necropolis, with archeological findings now in the National Museum of Beirut, and a possible shrine around a water spring at what is today Saint Demetrios Church.


Ottoman period

After several centuries of being a small, walled city, Beirut expanded rapidly in the mid-nineteenth century, as a result of increased trade and immigration, including refugees from inter-communal conflicts in Mount Lebanon and inland Syria. As the old city became increasingly cramped and overpopulated, many Greek Orthodox trading families relocated from the port into semi-rural eastern areas, where they built spacious villas on the slopes of the hill, with large gardens and views commanding the port. These Orthodox families (including the Bustros, Gebeily, Trad, Tueni, and Sursock) made their money through the silk trade as well as money exchanging and tax collection, and were some of the largest property owners and tax payers in the city in the 1860s and 70s. The Orthodox community's communal institutions followed them. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop's palace was also relocated from the Saint George Cathedral complex in downtown Beirut to the Sursock's neighbourhood overlooking the port. The Ecole des Trois Docteurs, founded in 1835 in the Orthodox Cathedral complex in central Beirut, moved eastward until it found its present location at the bottom of the Accaoui hill. The first palace was built by Nicolas Sursock, probably on what is now the St Nicolas Stairs, and hosted Russia's Grand Duke Nicholas when he visited Beirut in 1872. Other villas included: Taswinat al-Tueni, a palace built by Georges Tueni in the early 1860s and named for the fence that ringed the extensive grounds; the Fadlallah Bustros Palace, completed around 1863 and now housing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Moussa Sursock's palace, completed around 1870; and Elias Sursock's palace, which hosted General Gouraud during the French Mandate and was demolished in the 1960s. The last major villa was built for Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock in 1912, and upon his death, he left the palace to the Municipality of Beirut as a land grant or waqf, to become what is now the
Sursock Museum The Sursock Museum (), officially known as the Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock Museum, is a modern and contemporary art museum in Beirut, Lebanon. History In 1912, the Lebanese aristocrat Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock built the private villa that now house ...
. These palatial villas remain emblematic of Achrafieh, with one such palace, built for Abdullah Bustros, being sold for $22 million in 2018. File:Sursock Palace in Beirut.jpg, Moussa Sursock's palace, completed around 1870 File:Alexandre Sursock's house on Sursock Street, Beirut.jpg, Alexandre Sursock's villa, now known as Villa Mokbel File:Youssef Sursock's villa in Beirut.jpg, Youssef Sursock's palace, now known as the Feghali House File:Ibrahim Sursock villa in Beirut.jpg, Ibrahim Sursock's villa, completed around 1875 File:Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon, 1970.jpg, Nicolas Sursock's villa, completed in 1912 Besides the bourgeois families, many Christian refugees came to settle in the expanding suburbs, starting with the 1860 inter-communal conflict in Mount Lebanon, between Maronites and Druze, and in Damascus, between Orthodox Christians and Muslims. Dimitri Youssef Debbas was one such refugee from the Damascus conflict, who settled in Achrafieh and wrote a memoir of the conflict. Historian
Leila Fawaz Leila Fawaz is a Lebanese historian and academician. She is the founding director of The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies from 2001 to 2012. Fawaz was born in Sudan to Greek-Orthodox Lebanese parents and raised in Lebanon. She took ...
describes how Dimitri Debbas was part of the first caravan fleeing Damascus, and placed into quarantine outside the city. The Bustros family persuaded the Mutessarif to allow the refugees into the town, and they were housed in the Ecole des Trois Docteurs, near the St George Cathedral. As the school became overcrowded, some were given shelter in Khalil Sursock's house, with families staying in the cellar, and men (including Dimitri Debbas) sleeping in the open. Dimitri Debbas, who had been part of a successful business family in Damascus, rebuilt his wealth from Beirut and built a residence of his own in Achrafieh, on what is now known as Montee Debbas.


Lebanese Civil War

Given its large Christian population, Achrafieh was a focal point of conflict during the
Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...
. The area was the Beirut heartland of the Christian militias under the Lebanese Front. The
Hundred Days' War The Hundred Days War (, ''Harb Al-Mia'at Yaoum,'' French: La Guerre des Cent Jours) was a subconflict within the 1977–82 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Lebanese capital Beirut. It was fought between the allied Christi ...
in 1978 saw the Christian militias of the Lebanese Front fight the Syrian deterrent forces. In 1982, Lebanon's president-elect
Bachir Gemayel Bachir Pierre Gemayel (, ; 10 November 1947 – 14 September 1982) was a Lebanese militia commander who led the Lebanese Forces, the military wing of the Kataeb Party, in the Lebanese Civil War and was elected President of Lebanon in 1982. ...
was assassinated by a bomb explosion at the Kataeb office on Sassine Street. The documentary ''Beirut: The Last Home Movie'' (1987) by Jennifer Fox shows the day-to-day life of the Bustros family, inside the Tueni-Bustros palace during the early 1980s. Mouna Bustros, who features in the film, was killed in 1989 when a rocket was fired from the nearby Rizk Tower at the palace. The Achrafieh experience of the war is also chronicled by Elias Khoury in his novel ''The Little Mountain'' (1989).


Contemporary Achrafieh

In 2005, journalist
Samir Kassir Samir Kassir (; 5 May 1960 – 2 June 2005) was a Lebanese-Palestinian journalist of '' An-Nahar'' and professor of history at Saint-Joseph University, who was an advocate of democracy and prominent opponent of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. ...
was assassinated by a bomb placed under his car at his residence in Achrafieh. In 2006, as part of the unrest surrounding the Danish cartoons of Muhammad, protestors torched the Danish embassy building in Tabaris and damaged the nearby Mar Maroun Church in Saifi. In October 2012,
Wissam al-Hassan Wissam Adnan al-Hassan (; 11 April 1965 – 19 October 2012) was a brigadier general at the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the head of its intelligence-oriented Information Branch. Seen as a leading Sunni figure in Lebanon, ...
, head of the Intelligence Branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Force, was killed along with 8 others by a bomb on Sassine Street.


Demographics

In 2014,
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
made up 83.34% and
Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
15.28% of registered voters in Achrafieh. 26.84% of the voters were
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
, 14.39% were
Maronite Catholics The Maronite Church (; ) is an Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The head of the Maronite ...
, 13.47%
Armenian Orthodox The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic Church, belongs to the Arme ...
, 11.59%
Greek Catholics Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...
, 11.45%
Sunni Muslims Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...
and 5.00%
Syriac Orthodox The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The church upholds the Mia ...
.


Urbanism

Achrafieh contains some of Beirut's largest remaining clusters of historic buildings from the late Ottoman and French Mandate periods. However, much of this heritage was destroyed during the Civil War (1975–1990), with many structures undergoing reconstruction in the following decades. The area also saw several construction booms (including during the Civil War, in the mid-1990s, and the 2000s), during which much of the built heritage including gardens was replaced with tower blocks to maximize land value. Heritage buildings have been torn down for inheritance reasons, as a way of evicting tenants on so-called "old rents", or because of lack of maintenance. The area now contains the tallest towers in Beirut, including Sama Beirut near Sodeco, and SkyGate near Sassine Square. The area around Sursock Street has been rebranded by developers as a "golden triangle" (''triangle d'or''), as it has a balance between permissible population density and development rights (e.g., height of buildings). In 2003 ABC Achrafieh department store and shopping mall was built on what was Salam football field. The built environment was badly affected by the explosion at Beirut's port in 2020, particularly in the northern parts of Achrafieh. An emergency law was promulgated in the immediate aftermath to stop the sale of land and evictions from houses around the port for the following two years. Several civil society organizations, most notably the Beirut Heritage Initiative, have been working to restore groups of houses affected by the disaster. Very few of the remaining heritage buildings have any official protection, despite lobbying from civil society groups. A new bill was passed in 2017 by the Lebanese government to protect heritage sites around the city, marking a historical turning point for activists who have pressed for legislative action since the end of the war, but has not been ratified.


Timeline

* 1st century AD - Roman
necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...
established on hill of St Dimitrios * 1839 - Reform under Egyptian administration allows expansion of city beyond walls * 1842 - Beirut takes over from Acre as seat of
vilayet A vilayet (, "province"), also known by #Names, various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated b ...
* 1860 - Inter-communal conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus leads to influx of Christian refugees, many of whom settle in Achrafieh * 1862 - Greek Orthodox Archbishop's residence moved from central Beirut to Achrafieh's Sursock Street * 1870 - Moussa Sursock's palace completed * 1885 - Zahrat al-Ihsan school constructed * 1909 - Grand Lycee Francophone established by Mission Laique Francaise, near what is now Sodeco * 1910 - Ilyas Sioufi establishes the Sioufi Furniture Factory along with Sioufi Gardens * 1912 - Nicolas Sursock's villa constructed * 1920 - Karm el-Zeitoun established as settlement for Armenian refugees * 1927 - Church of the Annunciation, demolished during the construction of Place de l'Etoile, rebuilt in Achrafieh * 1931 - Danger Plan aims to make Beirut into a garden city, never put into effect * 1952 - Nicolas Sursock dies and leaves his villa to the city as a
waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...
, stipulating that it will become a
public museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...
* 1969 - Sassine Square construction works are completed * 1978 -
Hundred Days' War The Hundred Days War (, ''Harb Al-Mia'at Yaoum,'' French: La Guerre des Cent Jours) was a subconflict within the 1977–82 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Lebanese capital Beirut. It was fought between the allied Christi ...
centers on Achrafieh * 1982 -
Bachir Gemayel Bachir Pierre Gemayel (, ; 10 November 1947 – 14 September 1982) was a Lebanese militia commander who led the Lebanese Forces, the military wing of the Kataeb Party, in the Lebanese Civil War and was elected President of Lebanon in 1982. ...
assassinated at Beit al-Kataeb on Sassine Street * 2003 - ABC Achrafieh department store and shopping mall built on what was Salam football field * 2020 - Beirut's port explosion devastates the city, especially northern areas of Achrafieh


Education

Schools and universities: * Universite Saint Joseph de Beyrouth * Grand Lycée Franco-Libanais *
Collège de la Sagesse The Collège de la Sagesse () is a Lebanese major national and Catholic school founded in 1875 by the Maronite archbishop of Beirut at the time, Joseph Debs who laid the first stone of the original building. The school originally known as l'É ...
* Greater Beirut Evangelical SchoolHome page
/ref> *
American University of Science and Technology The American University of Science and Technology (AUST; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and co-educational American university in Lebanon. It was established in 1989 in Beirut, under the name of the ''American Universal College'' through Decr ...
*
University of Balamand The University of Balamand (UOB; ) is a private institution, secular in its policies and approach to education. It welcomes faculty, students, and staff from all faiths and national or ethnic origins. The university is located in the northern di ...
, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences *Zahrat al-Ihsan *École des Trois Docteurs *SSCC Sioufi


Places of worship

Catholic churches: * St Youhanna Maronite Church, on Adib Ishak Street Greek Orthodox churches: * Notre Dame de l'Annonciation, historic church on Lebanon Street * Saydet el Doukhoul Church * St Dimitrios Church, hosting the Greek Orthodox cemetery for eastern Beirut * St George Church, attached to the St George Hospital * St Nicolas Church, an important parish church that was rebuilt in Byzantine style in the mid-twentieth century Mosques: * Beydoun Mosque Syriac Orthodox church: * St Ephraim Church under Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut


Notable people

* Michel Sassine, Prominent Lebanese politician, MP for the district of Beirut for 24 years (1968-1992) *
Bachir Gemayel Bachir Pierre Gemayel (, ; 10 November 1947 – 14 September 1982) was a Lebanese militia commander who led the Lebanese Forces, the military wing of the Kataeb Party, in the Lebanese Civil War and was elected President of Lebanon in 1982. ...
, born in the Achrafieh, he founded the Lebanese Forces. On 23 August 1982, he was elected President of Lebanon. * Gebran Tueini, former editor and publisher of the daily paper ''
An-Nahar ''An-Nahar'' () is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. In the 1980s, ''An-Nahar'' was described by ''The'' ''New York Times'' and ''Time Magazine'' as the newspaper of record for the entire Arab world. History and p ...
'' * Joe Kodeih, writer, actor and director * Samir Assaf, CEO of
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
Global Banking & Markets * Nicolas Amiouni, rally driver *
Nancy Ajram Nancy Nabil Ajram (, ; born May 16, 1983) is a Lebanese singer, television personality, and businesswoman, dubbed by Spotify as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Arab Pop". With the support of her father, she began performing ...
, singer


See also

*
Badaro Badaro is a residential neighborhood and business hub in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by the Pierre Gemayel avenue on the north, the Hippodrome on the west, Sami el Solh avenue on the east, Beirut's pine fo ...
*
Beirut Central District The Beirut Central District is the historical and geographical central business district, core of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Also called downtown Beirut, it has been described as the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative ...
* Grand Lycée Franco-Libanais *
Hekmeh BC Sagesse Sports Club (French language , French: '' Club Sportif de la Sagesse''), known as Hekmeh in Arabic, is a Lebanese sports club founded in 1943 and is based in Beirut. The basketball team was established in 1992, as part of the Club Sages ...
*
Collège de la Sagesse The Collège de la Sagesse () is a Lebanese major national and Catholic school founded in 1875 by the Maronite archbishop of Beirut at the time, Joseph Debs who laid the first stone of the original building. The school originally known as l'É ...
*
Racing Beirut Racing Club (), known as Racing Beirut or simply Racing, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Fouad Chehab Stadium and are primarily supported by the ...
*
Hekmeh FC Sagesse Sports Club (), known as Hekmeh () in Arabic, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the , and is primarily supported by the Maronite Christian community. The club was founded in 1943 a ...


Further reading

* Eddé, Carla. 2009. ''Beyrouth, naissance d’une capitale: 1918-1924''. Paris: Actes Sud. * Davie, May. 1993. ''La'' millat ''grecque-orthodoxe de Beyrouth, 1800-1940: Structuration interne et rapport a la cite''. Doctoral thesis, Universite de Paris IV – Sorbonne. * Davie, May. 1996. ''Beyrouth et ses faubourgs (1840-1940) : Une intégration inachevée''. Beirut: Les Cahiers du Cermoc. * Fawaz, Leila Tarazi. 1983. ''Merchants and migrants in nineteenth-century Beirut''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. * Hanssen, Jens. 2005. ''Fin de siècle Beirut: The making of an Ottoman provincial capital''. Oxford Historical Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Kamel, Leila Salameh. 1998. ''Un quartier de Beyrouth, Saint-Nicolas : structures familiales et structures foncières''. Beirut: Dar el-Machreq. * Kassir, Samir. 2010. ''Beirut''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Khoury, Elias. 1989. ''Little mountain''. New York: Picador. * Traboulsi, Fawwaz. 2007. ''A History of Modern Lebanon''. London: Pluto Press. * Trombetta, Lorenzo. 2009. “The private archive of the Sursuqs, a Beirut family of Christian notables: An early investigation.” ''Rivista degli Studi Orientali'' 82(1). * Verdeil, Éric. 2012. ''Beyrouth et ses urbanistes : Une ville en plans (1946-1975)''. Beyrouth: Presses de l’Ifpo.
/nowiki>.


References


External links


SOUWAR.com




* Article on the history of Ashrafieh and how it evolved through time - Interview with Former Ashrafieh MP Michel Sassine (December 2011): https://www.scribd.com/doc/77669439/Interview-on-the-History-of-Achrafieh-with-HE-Michel-Sassine-Dec-2011 Neighbourhoods of Beirut, Achrafieh Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Lebanon Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon Armenian communities in Lebanon Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon {{Neighbourhoods of Beirut