Gallery
Description
Property Name: Grand Serail
Inventory No: 961-1-2
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2009-09-01
Country (State party): Lebanon
Province: Beirut
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 33° 53′ 45.45″ N
35° 30′ 3.67″ E
Historic Period: 19th century, 2nd half
Year of Construction: 1853
Style: Late Ottoman
Original Use: Palace
Current Use: Office, Residential
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Grand Serail is situated atop a hill in the downtown of Beirut. It is a palace which three of the monuments are built in Ottoman era. The other two are the Council for Development and the Hamidiyyeh clock tower which is constructed in 1897. In 1853 it is used as a military barrack but then it became the point of political power during Ottoman and French Rule in the city. In 1865, a hospital which was then converted to a courthouse was built alongside. Between 1877 and 1894, major structural additions were made. During the civil war the Serail have been damaged and in 1998 Restoration works which last 900 days had started. The restoration of the clock tower started in 1994. Now the building is used for the Prime Minister’s residence and office as well as offices for his staff, cabinet room and ministers’ offices.
Selection Criteria
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
It is the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon. The Grand Serail is a historic building, the most important of three Ottoman monuments on the Serail hill.
The monument was restored in 1998 and the reconstruction of the clocktower was completed in 1994.
The external walls were completely restored and stone from demolished buildings was used in the additional floor, thereby preserving a homogeneous facade.
References
Salam-Liebich, Hayat. The Architecture of the Mamluk City of Tripoli, The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1983.
Tadmuri, Omar Abdel Salam; Salame-Sarkis, Hassan. Tripoli the Old City: monuments survey-mosques and madrasas: a sourcebook of maps and architectural drawings.
Website of Archnet, http://archnet.org