Jesuit Garden

The Jesuit Garden is a public park in Jeitawi in the Achrafieh District of Beirut, Lebanon.[1][2]

The garden was given to the city in the 1960s by the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits opened schools in the area around an ancient Byzantine church in the 1600s. The garden houses the remains of an ancient temple and includes features such as Roman columns and mosaics. It also is the home to a small public library with 7,500 books donated by the Jesuits, which sits amongst one-hundred-year-old pine trees.[3]

It has recently been selected for demolition by the Beirut Municipality in order to create a new underground car park as part of a motorway extension project.[4]

The parking lot project has caused uproar amongst local residents and heritage activists who staged a protest on Saturday 15 June 2013. Over three hundred people attended to voice their anger at the Municipality planners and the Ministry of Culture. Various different groups and Non-Governmental Organisations attended and voiced concern such as Green Line, Biladi, Save Beirut Heritage and the Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage. Guided tours were given of the ruins and it was explained how the planned construction work would irreparably damage the trees, Byzantine church and one of the few green spaces left in Beirut.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Lutz, Meris., Residents, activists fight to preserve Ashrafieh’s Jesuit Garden, Daily Star, June 10, 2013
  2. ↑ Duplan, Charlie., "Le Jardin des Jésuites n'est pas à vendre", L'Orient Le Jour, 16/06/2013
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Anderson, Brook., Protest over parking garage plans at Beirut Jesuit Garden, Daily Star (Lebanon), June 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ Karam, Michael., Green space losing out to the obsession to drive everywhere, The National, Jun 14, 2013

External links

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