Echoes of Old Beirut

Bruce Condè, 1955 and 1960

World War I saw the wholesale destruction of the "old quarters" around the Bourj by the Turkish satrap, Jamal Pasha, who felt them to be a hiding place for pan-Arab patriots; the walls and gates, with one exception, had already made way for progress, although some of them are remembered today in the names of Place Assour ("The Walls") which marks the southwest corner of Beirut's medieval ramparts, and the sites of the gates of Bab Edriss, Bab esSerail, etc. The one exception is Bab Yakub, or Jacob's Gate, which is still preserved as a sort of tunnel or underground vault, now buried beneath the road at the west end of Place Assour (where the new street goes up to the Tower Bookshop and American Community Church).

Medieval Walls
It was north of this gateway that parts of the medieval walls were uncovered in 1952 in the course of excavations for the Middle East Airlines and two other new buildings over the spot. The lower courses of the wall seemed to be of Roman or Byzantine construction and were so well preserved that the huge stones were cut into smaller ones and embedded in the cement foundation walls of at least one of the new structures.

When the Opera cinema was built during the French occupation, the last walls of the stables and outbuildings of Seventeenth Century Druze Emir Fakhreddin's Beirut palace were levelled. It was probably the 60-foot tower overlooking this palace from the present site of the Metropole and Empire cinemas that gave the Bourj ("Tower") its name, but the tower had disappeared long before the end of Turkish rule here.

Castle of Beirut Site
About a block northeast of the Rivoli and between it and the port (in back of the vegetable souk) once stood the great castle of Beirut. Only a few fragments of its east walls still remain, along the west side of a bus station. The elevated castle area was removed in 1953-54 to make way for a bus terminal.

The pretty little Bab es-Serail mosque opposite the Municipal Building has no visible signs of ancient construction left today, but it is a reconstruction of the Crusader Church of the Holy Savior which - in turn was originally a Jewish synagogue, whose congregation had been converted to Christianity en-masse in connection with a medieval miracle.

Cathedral-Mosque
It is only a few steps up the side street to the southwest of Bab es-Serail to the best preserved and most picturesque of Beirut's few remaining ancient monuments - the Grand Mosque of Omar.

In 1953-54 this structure was thoroughly repaired and renovoted. The story of the restoration work was told at the time in two special articles, which are reproduced below because of the wealth of detail they contain.

Both were published by the writer in September, 1953, issues of the "Daily Star".

UNCOVERING BEIRUT'S LOST CATHEDRAL
The chance of lifetime has presented itsel£ to Beirut archaeologists and students of history.

For 662 years the great Crusader Cathedral of Beirut, transformed into the Grand Mosque of Omar in 1291 A.D., has been hidden under constantly increasing coats of white-wash, plaster and cement, built over and obscured from public view on all but its south and east sides.

But a survey by engineers of the Moslem Department of Wakfs and the National Department of Antiquities this year showed that the additional weight of the cement and of a large gallery built in the northeast part of the building, plus the accumulated stress and strain of eight centuries, were combining to cause an imminent collapse of the entire structure unless major remedial measures were taken at once.

Mufti Sponsors Restoration
His Eminence the Mufti of the Republic, acting for the Moslem community as a whole, since the local endowment of the mosque is too small to permit major structural repairs, then authorised the Department of Wakfs to disburse all necessary funds for a thoroughgoing restoration and preservation of the building.

This major project, which will take more than a year to complete, is being carried out under the joint supervision of Wakfs and Antiquities engineers, who have the use of skilled laborers from Baalbek and elsewhere - workers who have long experience in working on antiquities - as well as strong scaffolding and equipment of the Antiquities-Department, loaned by its Director, the Emir Maurice Chehab.

On the spot during all operations, in charge of labour, and generally representing the Mufti's office is the Directorate of Wakfs official Ibrahim Lababide, while the mosque's own Sheikh Ramis attempts to provide facilities for a constantly decreasing number of worshippers, now reduced to utilizing a few undisturb ed spots of the northern courtyard, and posts guards to keep out sightseers who might be injured by the falling stones and debris.

Inch-thick Paint Layer
Six centuries of plaster, paint and whitewash now more than an inch thick, have been scraped from the underlying Crusader stonework of the interior colums and pilasters. Paint-remover will be used to uncover the marble capitals without damaging their delicate carvings. This cleaning is revealing additional cracks, fissures and weaknesses.

The cement covering of the barrel vaulted roof has been ripped up, revealing centuries of makeshift repair work, dangerous fisures and some very poor original Crusader construction. The poorly-fitted ramleh or soft, porous brown stone masonry, was discovered to be sand and dirt filled, without mortar, although a waterproof covering similar to the native cement lining of Byzantine and early Arab tanks and cisterns had been smeared over the stop.

Thoroughly cleaned, the spaces between the stones have now been filled with a special cement and the entire area will be resurfaced with the best modern materials. Work on the roof is being rushed to completion before the rainy season. The interior, in the meantime, is shored up with timbers for safety.

Better workmanship was found on the dome of the semicircular apse, which had two layers of masonry to the roof's one.

Discovery of Crypt
The most important discovery to date, made in the course of a through probe underground to examine the foundations, has been the opening of a long-lost crypt or subterranean chamber under the the northern courtyard.

Preliminary examination indicates that the underground chamber may be of pre-Crusader origin, later renovated as a vast cistern and finally abandoned and lost from memory. Until the two meters of water now ,filling most of it has been siphoned out, and dirt from Turkish-period building sites cleared away, it cannot be dated with certainty. Partly visible now are sixteen reused GrecoRoman granite columns, without capitals, supporting two rows of arches and, as pilasters, the east and west walls of the three uncovered aisles of the crypt. What further underground passages and chambers beneath the cathedral proper yet may remain to be discovered it is still too early to say.

Minaret of 14th Century
The tall square minaret near the west (main) portal on Allenby Street is not quite as old as the church in spite of the erroneous statement that it was once the bell tower (as is the case in the Grand mosque of Tripoli). It is of Mamluk construction, of the 14th Century or later, and its walls are not properly tied into those of the cathedral, whose porch it half blocks on the south side.

Now missing are the cathedral's twin towers which once stood on the northwest and southwest corners respectively, in back of the line of the present minaret.

The porch has been described by some archaeologists as a surviving portion of the pre-Crusader Byzantine basilica, although only the columns and capitals can be definitely identified today.

There are nearly fifty reused Byzantine and Roman marble capitals in the cathedral proper but the pillars and pilasters supporting them are of sectional Crusader stonework and not granite columns as in the crypt.

Greek Inscription Legible
Another reused Byzantine piece is the niche in the south wall of the main central apse, with its ornate pilasters, inverted seashell motif and Greek inscription from the Bible which translates "The Voice of God Above the Waters" (Psalms XXVIII, 3). It appears to have come from the baptistry of the Byzantine basilica which preceeded the Crusader construction here and probably enclosed a holy water font in the Middle Ages. It has now been lengthened to the floor and serves as a small mihrab in the direction of Mecca.

A thorough under-the-floor search for Byzantine mosaics will be made and traces of the Crusader murals, whitewashed over in the 14th Century by the grandfather of Saleh Ibn Yahia the historian, will be sought.

The most typical Crusader work is to be found around the cornice of the three apses at the east end of the church, visible from the street, where a profusion of gargoyles, rosettes, capitals and other richly-carved decorations of medieval Frankish craftsmen look down on the passer-by.

Handsomely-carved Windows
The three central windows of the apses are also handsomely carved, Crusader-style, but the two undecorated side windows of the main apse as well as the unsightly door through the same apse are later additions.

This cathedral was commenced in 1113 A.D. by the first Latin Bishop of Beirut, Baudoin of Boulogne, who had been named to the episcopal dignity the year before, and was -not completed until mid-century under the third bishop, Guillaume.

Thirty-seven years later Beirut was taken by Saladin who converted the church into a mosque without altering its general form. The reliquary shrine of St. John the Baptist, which gave its name to the cathedral and which is said to contain the saint's arm, has always been respected by Moslems in the same manner as Christians, and is still preserved against the south wall near the southwest corner.

Pope Innocent III, after Saladin's death, exhorted the Crusaders to recover Beirut, which they did in 1198, restoring the cathedral church to its bishop.

Bishop Lived in England
Bishop Galerand, in the mid-13th Century, went to Europe to plead for help for the Crusader Kingdom, residing for many years in the Osene Priori in England, returning here in 1283.

The last Crusader Bishop of Beirut, Bartholomew, was elendet in 1272 and led to Kypros in 1291 When the city fell to the Mamluk. For another hundred years the Bishops of Beirut continued to hold their title "in partibus", with residence in Nicosia, their cathedral church definitely converted into the Grand Mosque o f Omar, as it remains today.

Nor were the temporal lords of Beirut any more fortunate. Fulk de Guines, named Baron of Beirut on its capture in 1110, was unable to make the fief hereditary and it fell into the hands of the House of Ibelin.

Under Byzantine Prince
In 1169 King Amaury of Jerusalem gave the city to the Imperial Prince Andronicus Commenus, a cousin of the Queen, but in 1186 it was captured through treachery by Joscelin de Courtenay titular Count of Edessa, for the Lusignans of Cyprus, and lost the next year to Saladin.

In 1231 the crusading Emperor Frederik II seized the town, but not its castle, from Jean d'lbelin, Regent of Cyprus, for a brief period, and 60 years later it was irrecovably lost to the Mamluks.

Today the bishop's cathedral, as it gradually emerges from its modern outer covering, stands in sole testimony of the days when Beirut was a Crusader barony. Whether or not the restoration work will uncover elusive Latin inscriptions of the period or even the burial crypts of the bishops and lords of Beirut remains to be seen. But local archaeologists are getting the break of a lifetime in peeping below the six-centuries-old covering of this city's only remaining major monument of antiquity.

The "AFFAlR OF THE CRYPT"
Mention of the uncovering of a long-forgotten crypt under the courtyard of Beirut's Cathedral-mosque in "The Star"'s last Sunday's feature touched off a string of events that led to considerable public interest in the new discovery.

On Monday morning our sister newspaper, the leading Arabic language daily, "Al-Hayat", secured the first photos ever taken of the half-flooded underground chamber and on Wednesday published them as an exclusive SCOOP, together with a full-length background story.

So many hundreds of Beirut readers of "Al-Hayat" stormed the mosque area that morning that a special police detail had to be assigned for the crowds, which no longer heeded Sheikh Ramis' mild to stat out of the way of constantly falling debris.

Government, Press Invited
Harassed Wakfs officials finally had to ban further entry onto the premises, but promised a full-dress guided tour to the government and press tomorrow morning, with special cards of invitation to the Prime minister, cabinet and parliament members and other notables.

The Fire Department's aid was enlisted to get an estimated five feet of water out of most of the subterranean chamber. The water was removed Friday afternoon at the rate of over 80 centimeters per hour, but enough mud and debris remains to further obscure attempts to clear up the mystery of the long-lost crypt.

Preliminary measurements show the visible aisles to be nearly 50 feet long and over 10 feet-wide.

24 Pillars Now Found
In addition to the 12 granite pillars and their arches standing free above the water and debris in three rows, there are now visible eight additional pillars in the form of pilasters lining the north and south walls and an additional four probable ones under the dirt and rocks of the unopened west side where additional unexplored areas may be opened later.

As the floor of the crypt is not far from the estimated Byzantine and early Arab ground level of Beirut - some half-thousand years before the arrival of the Crusaders - speculation is now rife in historical and archaeological circles as to whether or not the crypt may be a remnant of the Seventh Century Mosque of Omar which occupied the site between the Arab conquest and the First Crusade.

In Memory of Caliph Omar
It is no secret that when Saladin, Sultan of Islam, and the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, al-Malik al-Ashraf, in 1187 and 1291, respectively, liberated Beirut from the Franks they always redesignated the cathedral-church, which Bishop Baudoin had erected on the spot, as the Mosque of Omar in honor of the early Caliph's reputed place of worship there in the Seventh Century.

To back this belief, proponents point to the also-half buried triple colonnade of the ruined Omayyad Grand mosque of Baalbek - a little-known and seldom-visited historic site not far east of the Baalbek temples.

Similar to Baalbek Mosque
There is a striking resemblance between the Seventh Century Arab workmanship of the Baalbek colonnades and those of the crypt, if we except the reused capitals of the former. But remembering that the Omayyads loved rich ornamentation, while the austere Caliph Omar did not, and that the near-at-hand Baalbek temples furnished a treasure-trove of beautifully-carved capitals while meagre Byzantine-Roman remains of thrice-ruined Beirut did not, the feature of the crypt's missing capitals need not figure prominently in our calculations.

That the walls of the then-underground vault were later plastered and given a waterproof surface for use a cistern in Crusader or Mamluk times we may also believe, for an aged resident of Beirut during the French Mandate told Wakfs officials that there was a "well" under the courtyard, and a tradition of some underground chambers.

Unsolved Mystery
But what was the vault's original use ? Was it, indeed, a part of the early mosque of Omar? Did it even have a Byzantine origin ? Did the Crusaders use it as a burial crypt for their lords and bishops, below the cathedral cloister? Or was it only a cistern?

Examination of the floor and exploration of the blocked passages and arches beyond the mysterious west wall will probably answer many of these questions at some future time.

In the meantime, the "Affair of the Crypt" is becoming a cause celebre in Beirut as speculation and public interest continues to mount in the wake of this city's major archaeological find of the century.

(Results of inquiries into the nature of the crypt were in conclusive, while no Frankish inscriptions or traces of the Crusader Lords' burial places were found anywhere in the area. The crypt was resealed and the mosque s interior replastered. The restoration had definitely saved the building from imminent collapse).

Emir Mundhir Mosque
Proceeding westward (toward Bab Edriss) from the Grand Mosque for another block brings one to the small but charming "Naufara", or "Mosque of the Emir Mundhir", in pure Lebanese Arab architecture of the reign of the Druze Prince Fakhreddin the Great (early Seventeenth Century).

Built by Fakhreddin's relative. the Emir Mundhir Tanukh, this structure has reemployed in its courtyard eight Roman columns of grey granite, no doubt resurrected from a Roman temple site on the spot. Its eastern door carries over the portal of varicolored marbles an Arabic inscription naming the mosque in honor of its builder.

In addition to the Roman columns there are a series of small domes over the portico all around the courtyard. The entire structure has been tastefully restored and its beauty enhanced within the past year by the Wakfs administration, with a new portal and several large grilled windows being opened on the west (Fakhreddin Street) side. These new openings permit passers by to view the colonnaded courtyard, once sealed off by a solid wall pierced by a small modern door in very bad taste.

Herodian Colonnade
Except for a piece of Herodian colonnade resurrected in front of the National Museum. and a Late Roman or Byzantine decorated portal reused inside the modern bank on the south side of the Parliament, there remain no other important monuments of antiquity above ground in the old city area today.

The suburban Mosque of El Khadr, once Chapel of St. George and reputed site of the slaying of the dragon, near Nahr, the early Islamic (Eight Century) retting place of the celebritet Imam al-Awza'i at the little beach village of that name, as, well as the Roman aqueduct which formerly crossed the Beirut River a few kilometers out of town are all worthy of separate treatment and at least one additional excursion for those who seek the few remaining vestiges of olden times in and about Beirut.

From See Lebanon, Bruce Condè, second edition, Harb Bijjani Press, Beirut, 1960