Church damaged in Beirut Port blast resurrected as modern minimalist haven

A 19th-century church in the heart of Beirut has been given a transformative makeover, rethinking tradition through the lens of contemporary design.

The St Maroun Church in Gemmayzeh is a beautiful example of Levantine religious architecture, built in the Roman style in 1875, with stained glass windows, sweeping arches and polished wood furnishings. It was damaged during the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, and has since been restored by architect Fadlo Dagher.

Once the structure was sound, Lebanese designer Marine Bustros took on the challenge of transforming its interiors, whilst honoring its historical significance. As Israel continues to bombard Lebanon, their strikes have crept closer to central Beirut over the past few days.

Heritage sites, such as the renowned Baalbeck Heliopolis, the Palmyra Hotel, Tyre’s Hippodrome and the Ottoman-era souks in Nabatieh, as well as various churches and mosques around the country, have also been targeted or destroyed.

“Of course, it goes without saying, we’re all worried about our heritage, our beautiful buildings and culture,” Bustros tells The National. “We put so much effort into restoring and making this church a beautiful community space again, which is especially needed in times of crisis.

“The church brings comfort and the priest, Father Richard is helping to support the displaced people and distribute food to them. Our heritage buildings are part of our identity and a form of resistance, too, to keep them preserved even in the hardest of times.”

The result of the revamp is a light-filled space with sleek minimalist furniture in pastel blues and greens, creating a spiritual haven that prioritises the way people experience and use the community space.

“It was very important to keep the original architectural features, like the marble floors and wooden ceilings, but use the modern design as a way to highlight them and make them shine,” Boustos says. “For example, by removing the old carpets, you can now really see the marble flooring, and by painting the wood beams blue it draws the eye up to appreciate the original features.

“It’s all about preserving the heritage and working with it, but making it functional and bringing it into the modern era, as a space that can be appreciated and experienced fully.”

Bustros’s vision for the Maronite church’s interior seeks to break away from the conventions of traditional church salons: often made up of dominant burgundy tones, velvet fabric, dark wood, carpets and seating arrangements that all face forwards.

Instead, she chose light woods, pastel colours that give a soothing look to the space and benches that are modular and arranged to face each other. The traditional window shutters, doors and ceiling beams are now all powder blue, contrasting with white walls that give an airy feel to the space.

“After the explosion, the priest really wanted to renovate the church, and part of this was making it a more modern space,” Bustros says. “We didn’t want to have chairs like before, so I designed these more versatile benches. The lower edge of the benches has a wavy pattern, which is inspired by the beautiful arches of the church itself.

“All the cushions can also be removed, so they can double as tables, depending on the need,” she adds. “Part of the priest’s vision for the church was to make it a more multifunctional space, so I kept this in mind when making the design.”

As well as being a space of worship, the church will now be able to host art exhibitions, book signings and community events, as the new furniture and modular design will allow them to rearrange the set-up. The white walls will be perfect for artistic showcases, serving as a neutral background used by many galleries.

Monthly music evenings are already being held, and Father Richard Abi Saleh believes that mental well-being is just as important as physical well-being. For those feeling the weight of the war, he hopes that art and culture can help give them hope for the future and lend a space that can provide support.

“On a daily basis we are afraid but we are not afraid for the future, because we are building the future,” Abi Saleh says. “Even in times of war, we are artisans of construction and civilization, and we believe that we must take action, not only for in distributing food or clothes when needed, but also with acts of beauty, for example, the work of arts or music concerts.

“People need more in life than the bare necessities just to survive, they also need to breathe, to dream and to believe that things are still possible. I believe that the real resistance in the life of a community is cultural resistance, to say that we can build the future in everyday acts because humanity is still capable of beautiful things.”

As part of the renovations, an extension was built. This more modern room is U-shaped, with a single sofa curving around the entire bend, echoing the furniture designed for the main hall and bridging the two distinct types of architecture.

Commissioned specially for the space is a modern take on a religious mural, painted by artist George Merheb. The five-metre-long triptych gathers various religious symbols like ears of wheat, fish, crosses, communion goblets and doves of peace together, painted in a stylised fashion with blocks of colours.

For Bustros, the project was unlike anything she had taken on before. Designers are generally called on to put together homes, restaurants or even former churches being redesigned for some new purpose, but still-active places of worship are not usual recipients of high-end spatial design.

“It was very interesting to work on the interior design of a church. I had to go do a lot of research in the beginning, because you really have to think about how the space is used,” Bustros says. “It’s not like a house, it has a very specific purpose, and I had to think about how people flow into the space, especially when holding family ceremonies like christenings and how to indicate where the family should sit, versus the other guests. It needed to be a place that was comfortable and welcoming.”

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