Transformation and tragedy: Beirut Port's historical journey through time

Beirut's contemporary story began with establishing the Beirut Port in 1887, following an Ottoman decree granting the French the privilege to develop the port.

The Ottoman privileges granted to the French also included constructing the Beirut-Damascus road and building the Mar Mikhael-Beirut railway.

At the heart of the French vision was to make Beirut a gateway between Europe and the East. The construction of the first basin was completed in 1894, marking the beginning of the port's development and the design of the city and its streets.

Under the French mandate, Beirut became a vital link in the Beirut-Damascus-Baghdad commercial route, competing with the British route of Haifa-Amman-Baghdad.

After independence, the port accompanied the city's transition towards modernity and became a symbol of modernity.

The construction of the grain silos in the late 1960s, coinciding with the building of the third and fourth basins, would have solidified Beirut's role as a transcontinental trade center if not for the pivotal events of the 1975 war.

The port is more than just an economic engine in a city that constantly experiences movement like Beirut. It serves as the guardian of political and social memory, sometimes painful.

However, the tragic events of the August 4th explosion motivated researcher and photographer Eddy Choueiry to document the history of the Beirut Port and pay tribute to its victims. He compiled an archive that awaits publication.

The port created Beirut, but what remains of the city after the port's explosion?

The city's history, with all its significance for the port's geopolitical and strategic role and its virtuous engineering to enhance its functionality, cannot be ignored in any project to modernize the port.