The Houses of Beirut was initially printed in 1997 by our mother, Nayla Audi, for us – her daughters, and all the children of Lebanon, to preserve the memory of the traditional Lebanese homes.
24 years later, following the 4th of August blast, we have decided to publish a new edition of this book and donate all the proceeds to rebuild, restore and cherish the heritage of Beirut. And mostly to make sure that the colors and treasures of our city remain for generations to come.
Yasmine & Julie
Paintings By Flavia Codsi. Printed In Beirut By Anis.
Beirut Heritage Initiative (BHI) was launched as an independent and inclusive collective, in favor of restoring the built and cultural heritage of Beirut. BHI was born out of necessity, to bridge a vital gap of funding and coordination.
BHI is organized around a team of experts and professionals with complementary skills, such as the Order of Engineers and Architects of Beirut (OEA) and the Beirut Built Heritage Rescue 2020 (BBHR20), and NGOs specialized in cultural heritage.
It is based on continuous communication between all of the involved stakeholders, such as the National Heritage Foundation, Arab Center for Architecture, UN Blue Shield, Save Beirut Heritage, Live Love Beirut, Arc-en-Ciel, MARCH, Bebw’ Shebbek, Together Li Beirut among many others.
As of late August 2020, we organized our efforts and workflow in 3 phases: Emergency propping and sheltering, partial repairs and full reconstruction of heritage buildings affected by the August 4, 2020 blast.
BHI started to organically anchor the revitalization efforts by identifying priority clusters to concentrate repairs and restoration works. This is crucial to channel energies and to foster multilateral partnerships, all to maximize the impact of what is being accomplished with scarce resources.
Click here if you would like to donate more to Beirut Heritage Initiative.
FLAVIA CODSI
Born in Lebanon in 1961, self-taught Beirut based painter, Flavia Codsi worked as an interior and furniture designer and a freelancer in interior perspective drawings, before becoming a fixture on the Lebanese fine art scene since the mid-ninties. When shifting into the world of fine arts, Codsi began recreating scenes and facades of her native city and went on to illustrate ” The Houses of Beirut”, on the rapidly disappearing heritage. Flavia Codsi has now distinguished herself as a visual artist through her life-size realistic portraiture of the human condition, using oil paint as her preferred medium.
Anis printing press is one of the oldest printing presses in Lebanon and a family-owned business since 1957. Anis printed the first edition of this book in 1997, and after it survived the Beirut blast we are happy to have them print our re-edition today. Anis is among many of the great Lebanese small businesses and they were essential in making this project happen.
Every copy of this book is hand binded, which explains the delay in production but also it’s quality and craftsmanship.
