Panoramic Beirut

by Antoine Atallah

This book-object contains 4 folding leporellos featuring panoramic images of Beirut in 1870, 1920, and 1952, with annotations, a visual intervention and accompanying texts by architect, urban planner and activist Antoine Atallah. It “tells the story of Beirut through successive panoramic images taken from its historical center. It highlights the accelerated transformations of a capital in perpetual mutation through photographs annotated with the places that constituted the city during these different periods. This work describes the cultural influences, as well as the social, economic, and (geo)political factors that explain the diverse shapes taken by the city across time. It concludes with a “Ghost City,” a stark illustration of the rupture brought on by war and what followed.”

English-Arabic edition of 400 copies / French-Arabic edition of 400 copies | Folder + 4 leporellos + informative text-cards  | Offset printing on Fabriano Palatina 120g paper + hand-bound folder with foiled cover | 15x24cm closed / 20x192cm open