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93 BEIRUT to long-term recovery. But actually, ’s cul- Time was of the essence. The arrival of winter tural heritage was already receiving “cultural first would bring rain and wind. The primary institu- aid.” In the same way that people had jumped to the tions holding the precious cultural heritage of Beirut aid of the wounded, a highly effective volunteer task needed urgent help—cultural first aid. force had convened spontaneously in defense of the “This is a rich culture, a mix of historic build- nation’s cultural treasures. ings and objects. We can’t say that everything will be An indication of Lebanon’s rich archeological erased and we still start from zero. No! We want to heritage can be found in the National Museum. Over save what we have. It’s a time to show that Lebanon 100,000 objects range from prehistoric finds to Phoe- is rich. Of course we knew that everyone at that point nician civilization, and from the Roman Empire to was worried about the damage to residential build- the Mamluk period. Visitors encounter artifacts from ings, hospitals, schools. But we said we will work in a sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, parallel team, we will work for museums.” such as Byblos, and Tyre. Cultural heritage in With a couple of friends, he mobilized. They put Beirut extends far beyond archaeology, from the leg- out a call among their circle—architects, museogra- acy of maps, documents and photographs from the phers, archaeologists, interior designers, “everyone Ottoman and Colonial era, to literary archives, art, who knows how to take dimensions, how to docu- and the architecture of the city, including the cele- ment, how to assess a building in danger of collapse.” brated old districts of Gemmayzeh and Mar Mikhael. They put out They received more than 70 responses, from young When the blast hit, Gilbert Nicolas, an architect a call among professionals keen to help, and from Nicolas’ former who has worked with museums, was driving one their circle— professors from university. kilometer away in , an old downtown dis- What was their task? Cultural first aid, also known trict noted for its arts scene. Escaping uninjured and architects, as Disaster Risk Management or Cultural Property seeing damaged buildings all around, he sought out a museographers, Protection, has a similar structure to humanitarian favorite place—the Sursock Museum, a recently ren- architects assistance, according to Elsa Urtizverea, Heritage ovated modern and contemporary art space. Protection Coordinator at the International Council “It’s a place that I love and that I visit a lot. The and such. They of Museums (ICOM), based in Paris: building combines different styles of architecture, got more than “First aid for heritage is the first action to be taken Ottoman, Italian and Lebanese. The interior of the when a disaster occurs. It consists of four steps: situ- house is very rich, filled with wood and architectural ation analysis; on-site risk and damage assessment; ornaments, and they have a big collection of Leba- primary security and stabilization, and finally early nese artists. I was shocked by what I saw.” recovery. It stops there. Once it’s secured we can talk Inside, he found not only extensive damage, but about reconstruction and rehabilitation. The inter- also a shocked and bewildered staff. “All the beautiful national community working with heritage built colored glass was shattered. There was dust and glass responses. this protocol because we know that the number of everywhere. The ceiling had collapsed, things were on 70 risks and dangers is increasing, from war to climate the ground, pieces had been hit by flying glass and change to hazards.” debris. No one knew what to do. We started taking With winter approaching, it was imperative to photos and making a first assessment just to see what complete the first three parts of the cultural first aid had happened, if there was any electrical danger, or operation—situation analysis, on-site assessment, the possibility of a flood. And we began cleaning up security—before nature worsened the problem. The paintings and taking them to a storage room under- new task force started sending teams to assess dam- ground to secure them.” aged buildings and collections. From their position After his day at Sursock Museum, Nicolas went on the ground they reported to Blue Shield Interna- to the University of St. Joseph, a campus adjacent to tional, an organization that works globally to protect the port where the explosion occurred. Its Museum cultural heritage in emergency situations, to ICOM’s of Lebanese Prehistory was heavily damaged, and international heritage protection officers, and to with an architect’s eye he found the walls deformed ICOM Lebanon, the local network of museums. and at risk of collapsing. Nearby, the university’s cele- On August 8th, four days after the explosion, one brated Bibliothèque Orientale, an important research of these officers, Elsa Urtizverea, arrived in Beirut library, had blown-out windows, exposing content. from ICOM in Paris to conduct situation analysis Nicolas’ concern was for the collections and also the and on-site assessment. She explained the differ- structure—the mudbrick ceiling, the wooden beams, ence Nicolas’ task force made: “One of the museums the big windows. I visited had its doors and ceilings destroyed by the

94 brunswick social value review - no. 2 - 2021 BEIRUT explosion. They could tell me straight away ‘that could have a lasting influence on ICOM’s global wall might collapse’ and include it in their assess- operations: “Months after the disaster they are still ment. Without them, we would have had to engage working 7 hour days. Frankly they are beyond their engineers and other professionals to come into the tasks as volunteers. It’s a valuable lesson learned from museum, to make an assessment that we would have our side. Local communities are the first to safeguard paid for—but with so much of the city damaged, it their cultural heritage, something we’ve seen in places wouldn’t have been easy to source experts at this level. such as Mali. But I was amazed by how professional We saved a huge amount of time.” this group has been.” The large, organized volunteer group made other Urtizverea is not the only one rethinking how civil efficiencies possible. With multiple teams going out, society can be engaged in safeguarding world heri- Blue Shield International created a new online plat- Global experts tage. A new initiative launched November 16th, “Our form for them to fill in their assessments and upload World Heritage,” calls for the heritage community, photography via mobile phones. in cultural especially governmental organizations, to “expand Meanwhile, British writer and film-maker Lydia restoration preservation to the local level through grass-roots Wilson, who had spent years doing fieldwork in Bei- see the highly initiatives.” The highly organized citizen task force in rut, realized that this threat to the heritage of the city Beirut could be a model for the world. was itself a historic moment, and the damage, assess- effective local Beirut’s museums and collections are now moving ment and recovery should be documented. Lydia was response in beyond first aid, and entering the next stage, which quick to contact Nicolas, and videography and docu- Beirut as a needs the sustained international support pledged mentation were among the specialisms requested in in the August declaration. The Louvre, Centre Pom- his call-out for volunteers. Among the footage she has possible model pidou, V&A, and British Museum are among those been gathering from the team, she finds a powerful for the world. offering materials and restoration expertise. Assis- sense of the city and its heritage in the hearts and lives tance in restoring libraries has come from the foun- of people. “The librarian at the Bibliothèque Orien- dation of Sheikha Bodour al Qasimi in Sharjah. tale was crying when she said, ‘I’ve been coming here There is still a need for financial support. Urtizverea since I was a student. This is my home. I clean it as if identifies two organizations with deep roots in the it’s my home. I love it as if it’s my home.’” sector which are fundraising for their futures: the For Nicolas also this deep sense of connection Beirut Heritage Initiative and Impact Lebanon. means that every day is personally painful. “It’s really Many of Nicolas’ generation are choosing to leave hard, going there, seeing all the buildings that you Lebanon. Speaking on a recent panel hosted by Aspen used to love, the art collections, your friends... We’re UK, Dr. Zeina Mohanna of Amel Association Inter- trying to recover personally from this damage. It’s national described six crises overwhelming the coun- like healing yourself by healing what you love most. try, and driving up emigration: a political crisis, with We feel like by recovering our culture we are recover- the legitimacy of the government questioned; a social ing our emotions.” and economic crisis, with well over 50 percent below In the historic districts of Gemmayzeh and Mar the poverty line; a monetary crisis, with the currency Mikhael an estimated 640 buildings with heritage devalued; an environmental crisis, with a persistent status were found to be damaged, with 60 in immi- waste disposal problem; a healthcare crisis with the nent danger of collapse, according to an initial report effects of the pandemic; and finally the effects of one by UNESCO. For Nicolas and his task force, these old of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history. residencies are themselves a living museum. For Nicolas, the reason to stay is the seventh cri- “There are antiquities and furniture inside belong- sis—a crisis of identity: “We will lose more. We will ing to the residents, who may not know how to look lose our history. It’s eye opening, our need for history, after them. When we were doing our assessment of for our roots. During our assessments, we discovered one building, the owner told us, “I have a shattered a lot of collections that were hidden in the storage painting. It’s very dear to me, but I don’t know how rooms that need to be saved, and need to be shown. to save it.” If we left these objects during the winter in “I think that young people need to feel that they In the same way people poor condition and not secured, we might lose them jumped to the aid of are fighting for something. We want to go to the next altogether. We’d like to help with restoration. So now the wounded, a highly stage after securing the collections—to restore the we’re collaborating with university lecturers, training effective volunteer task buildings. Maybe this cultural work, maybe this his- force convened spon- the team to manipulate objects, save and clean them.” tory, will keep us here.” u taneously in defense For Elsa Urtizverea, the sustained and highly orga- of Lebanon’s cultural david lasserson is a Director in Brunswick’s London nized commitment of Nicolas and his task force treasures. office, offering counsel to arts entities.

95 brunswick social value review - no. 2 - 2021