page_title: Beirut Souks
section_title: Reconstruction
hierarchical_section_title: Beirut Souks / History / Reconstruction
caption_attribution_description: English: Beirut souks in the city center
context_page_description: Beirut Souks is a major commercial district in Beirut Central District. With over 200 shops, 25 restaurants and cafes, an entertainment center, a 14 cinema complex, periodic street markets and an upcoming department store, it is Beirut's largest and most diverse shopping and leisure area. Beirut Souks also features piazzas and public space.
  The souks have historically been at the commercial heart of Beirut. They sustained severe damage during the Lebanese Civil War and were rebuilt by Solidere according to the ancient Greek street grid, maintaining the historic landmarks and pre-war street names.
context_section_description: Reconstruction of Beirut's central district began as soon as the guns fell silent in 1991. Dar Al-Handasah was commissioned by the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction to prepare a master-plan for the rebuilding of the dilapidated central district. Henri Eddeh,  a senior architect planner at Dar al-Handasah proposed a complete demolition of the historical city center which was to be replaced by modern buildings and infrastructure.
  The notion of bulldozing the entire cityscape stirred a heated polemic within the intellectual circles and widespread opposition to the master-plan led to the adoption of an alternate strategy aiming at preserving and renovating what could be salvaged of Beirut's historic buildings. The new master-plan drawn by Lebanese architect Jad Tabet was approved by the Lebanese parliament and its implementation started in September 1994; a private share-holding company (Solidere) was created by the Lebanese government to manage the entire process of reconstruction and rehabilitation of Beirut's central district]]. Except for specific landmarks that were later salvaged and restored, a large part of the souks' medieval buildings were too damaged to be saved. The void left by the destruction of the Souks left a gap in Beirut's identity, Solidere sought to bring back the souks historic commercial function at the heart of Beirut and appeal to the mercantile community that had fled to the periphery during the 16 year civil war. Solidere launched an international design competition to rebuild the souks while in keeping with the original Hellenistic street grid that characterized the old souks and the area's historical landmarks. The contest was won by José Rafael Moneo Vallés who designed the southern souk and British architect Kevin Dash who designed the Gold souks. The construction of the souks were entrusted to Lebanese firm Hourie. The master plan for the Beirut Souks was approved by ministerial decrees  which preceded the launch of the reconstruction project. Costs of reconstruction were estimated at about 100 million dollars and work duration between 18 months and 2 years. The souks was set to open in 2000 but inauguration was postponed due to licensing delays related to political issues; meanwhile the construction of the underground parking was underway. In 2004 Solidere received the license and work on the souks began to be withheld in the aftermath of summer of 2006 war and the subsequent political instability.
caption: Entrance to Beirut Souks from Fakhry Bey Street
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