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(BAYROUT) |
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| Built
nearly 3000 year ago, on a rock headland of the littoral, inhabited since
highest antiquitée, royal city during the second millenium before
J.C., Beirut was eclipsed for a long time by the more powerful cities
of Tyr and Sidon. It is only in the Christian era, and more particularly
after having acquired the statute of Roman Colony towards 15 before J.C.
than she makes true great strides. At the times Roman and byzantine, Beirut is characterized by its famous Law School whose professors and lawyers collaborated in the drafting of the Justinien Code. Destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 551, Beirut did not succed to take off again. One century later, it is occupied by the moslem armies. In 1109, the city falls at the hands from Crusades, which preserve it until 1291, year of its conquest by the Mamelukes. In 1516, it passes to the hands of Ottomans and knows one period of great prosperity under the government of the Emir Fakhreddîne II. At the end of the First World War, after the dismemberment of the ottoman empire, it becomes the capital of modern Lebanon. Beirut counts today more than 1.5 million inhabitants and remains the cultural and commercial pole of the country. The recent lebanese civl war, between 1975 and 1990, destroyed the heart of the city which conceals the vestiges of its ancient and medieval history, thus obliging the banking and commercial centers to move towards other districts, even of other localities. A plan of rebuilding of the capital would have, in the 25 years space, to transform Beirut into an ultramodern city. |