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An art centre that was a passion project for the late Lebanese artist Abdul-Hamid Baalbaki has been destroyed by Israeli forces, according to footage released in the past few days.
The house was located in Odaisseh, a village in Lebanon near the border with Israel. The Baalbaki house and two others nearby were demolished.
“We have no idea why it was destroyed,” said Lubnan Baalbaki, Abdul-Hamid's son and a distinguished orchestra conductor. “The house has no clear military activity. It is an artistic place in a peaceful neighbourhood.”
Abdul-Hamid Baalbaki was born in the village in 1940 and became an important Lebanese painter and poet. He was motivated by the social and political struggles of his day, which he depicted in bright, figurative canvasses – eschewing the abstraction then in vogue for styles more accessible to the public.
He began building the house in the late 1980s with the idea of using it both as a family home – a retreat away from Beirut – and an art centre for the area. In addition to his own work, which was kept in Odaisseh after he moved back there in the early 2000s, he was a dedicated collector.
He accumulated works by other prominent artists as well as ancient and historical ceramic artefacts, some of which dated back to the first millennium BCE. He also built a collection of hundreds of books and manuscripts. All these were on display on the second storey of the large house, which was kept empty of furniture and arrayed as a gallery.
After he died in 2013, his children kept the house open to the public and it often hosted visitors and students from Lebanon’s Academy of Fine Arts. Though off the beaten track, it earned a memorial plaque from the government and gave its name to its street.
“We insisted on remaining and continuing the project that my father started despite all the difficulties in the border villages,” explained Lubnan. “It was like a light beam in that political situation. We wanted to show that we had something different to say.”
The Baalbakis are a renowned cultural family. It includes Lubnan, the conductor of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra; his sister Soumayya Baalbaki, an artist and singer; Oussama Baalbaki, also a painter; Monzer Baalbaki, an actor; and Salman Baalbaki, a musician. Their cousin is the artist Ayman Baalbaki. Though the children mostly grew up in Beirut, they spent much of their lives in the house and returned often. For them, it remained a home as much as a cultural site.
“Everything has been destroyed,” added Lubnan. “Not just the artworks but my father's letters and personal effects, and everything relating to our childhood memories. My parents' graves were even in the back yard.”
Many residents left Odaisseh a week after the October 7 attacks and the Baalbakis were able to bring their father’s most important paintings to Beirut for safekeeping, but about 20 to 25 were left behind. Since the war started they have tried to return to take other artworks and artefacts, confirmed Lubnan, but the area has been under military control and they have not been given access.
The family learnt of the house’s destruction over the weekend via the footage released by Israeli forces of their bombing campaigns.
“They are erasing our heritage and our history,” added Lubnan. “We were fighting before to still exist as a centre for culture and art, and they have come and erased it.”
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
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Bantamweight:
Zia Mashwani (PAK) bt Chris Corton (PHI)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) bt Mohammad Al Khatib (JOR)
Super lightweight:
Dwight Brooks (USA) bt Alex Nacfur (BRA)
Bantamweight:
Tariq Ismail (CAN) bt Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Featherweight:
Abdullatip Magomedov (RUS) bt Sulaiman Al Modhyan (KUW)
Middleweight:
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) bt Christofer Silva (BRA)
Middleweight:
Rustam Chsiev (RUS) bt Tarek Suleiman (SYR)
Welterweight:
Khamzat Chimaev (SWE) bt Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA)
Lightweight:
Alex Martinez (CAN) bt Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Welterweight:
Jarrah Al Selawi (JOR) bt Abdoul Abdouraguimov (FRA)
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
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Name: Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
World ranking: 15 (will rise to 5 on Monday)
Date of birth: October 8, 1993
Place of birth: Caracas, Venezuela
Place of residence: Geneva, Switzerland
Height: 6ft (1.82m)
Career singles titles: 4
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2016, Wimbledon 2017)
Career prize money: $13,928,719
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