Lebanon’s derelict 1892 Grand Sofar Hotel has been given new life as an exhibition and event space. The new era of the hotel kicked off last month, with British artist Tom Young’s 40-painting exhibition inspired by his desire to help a new generation see the historic building as accessible and relevant.
Grand Sofar Hotel Image by Karim Sakr
‘It was a place that most people felt was forbidden to enter’, Young tells Lonely Planet News. ‘A place which embodied unresolved trauma. That’s so sad. I felt I could do something to celebrate the wonderful history people are cut off from and reinvent the place for younger generations.’‘Every painting you see here depicts an event which happened in the hotel’, says owner Roderick Sursock Cochrane, which Young based on a series of photographs, letters and oral histories, as well as his own interviews with people who remember the Grand Sofar in its prime.
The entrance hall. Image by Karim Sakr
The hotel, 30km outside Beirut in Ain Sofar, played host to diplomats, dignitaries and aristocrats during its (and Lebanon’s) mid-century heydey. In 1975, the hotel was caught in the crossfire of the devastating 15-year Lebanese Civil War that by some estimates killed 120,000 and displaced 76,000. For a time, the hotel was the headquarters of the Syrian Army during the beginning of its occupation of Lebanon. Once the army had vacated, the hotel was left to looters and the elements for more than 40 years.
The hotel was used by the Syrian Army during conflict in the region. Image by Karim Sakr
In 2014, Cochrane (the grandson of the original owner Alfred Sursock) took on the hotel’s rehabilitation as a project. The ramshackle state of the upper floors meant that it couldn’t be used as a hotel, so Cochrane reimagined the building as an event space and gallery. He offered the space to Young, having seen his work before. For his part, Young has a background in working in and around old Beirut buildings. In 2015, he opened Villa Paradiso, a dilapidated mansion in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh district, as an art gallery and event space. Inspired by the building’s history, again physically scarred by shelling and bomb blasts, Young oversaw a partial rehabilitation and developed a series of paintings to highlight the building’s beauty and legacy.
The building is full of reminders of its history. Image by Karim Sakr
Young’s exhibition has now closed, after 90% of his paintings sold. The hotel will reopen in spring 2019 for more exhibitions ‘after essential repairs and renovations are carried out’, says the artist. In the meantime, he is working on an ‘immersive interactive digital experience’ based on the exhibit, from a series of 3D maps he had made while the work was still up. ‘This is a way to sustain free public accessibility in the ongoing struggle to prevent the privatisation of culture and heritage’, he told Lonely Planet News.
The Grand Sofar project is a part of a larger movement in Beirut to preserve architectural heritage, under continual threat by property developers and construction wrecking balls and unprotected by Lebanese law. ‘The danger of removing these historic buildings means losing identity and common memory’, says Naji Raji, founder of Save Beirut Heritage, an organisation which works to protect the Lebanese architectural legacy.
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