“Views from the Holiday Inn” (http://tinyurl.com/693cvf6) is a British Academy-funded project that archives the memories of Beirut’s former Holiday Inn hotel. The fruit of a French-Lebanese architectural collaboration inspired by Le Corbusier’s principle for modern architecture, the hotel opened in 1974 and became one an icon of Beirut’s golden era. In the 1970s, the city acted as a beacon of cosmopolitanism, freedom and wealth in the Middle East. However, deep inequalities at the basis of Lebanese society revealed this cosmopolitanism to have a dark side. Just one year later, when the civil war started in April 1975, the hotel gradually became part of the city’s frontlines. Despite attempts to protect the hotels (as well as the economic wellbeing of Lebanon) from destruction and fighting, the Holiday Inn was eventually taken over by the militias. On 21 March 1976, the Holiday Inn ‘fell’ in the hands of specific militias, became part of what was then known as West Beirut, and became an icon of ideological celebration. Today, its burnt skeleton stands out among Beirut’s post-war skyline, but its stories remain untold. Lebanon’s relationship with its own past is contested. In Lebanon, at least officially, there is no ‘collective memory’ agreed by the majority. The term ‘memory cultures’, as pointed out by Sune Haugbolle, is more apt to grasp the variegated, grass-roots, and non-state centred attempts to produce memory in Lebanon. This project joins Lebanon’s memory cultures, by collecting citizens’ memories and giving them back to the citizens. The project eplores the history of the building: its planning and design, life, and wartime fate. It is a window onto Beirut’s cosmopolitan space and society, but also onto the everyday reality of urban conflict and on the social and physical partition of the city. You can post your memories about any stage of the hotel life, pre- and post-1975, anonimously if you wish, but indicating your age and relation to the hotel. If you have photos, videos or any artefacts, please send an email to sara.fregonese@rhul.ac.uk.
