I Will Survive. You will forgive the Palais Debbane if it looks a little... (Debbane Palace)
I Will Survive. You will forgive the Palais Debbane if it looks a little frayed. We weren’t seeing it at it’s best. With the exception of this lower floor liwan, the rest of the house was empty, floors covered in plastic sheeting, furnishings in storage and a layer of dust on everything. For although she’s still looking snappy (especially for a 300 year-old) like any stately lady, this one has been through the wars. In this case, literally. In the hands of the Debbanes for the better part of the last 220 years, the palace was (of course), squatted by militias and refugees during the war and while these illicit lodgers were not always as careful as they might have been – clogging drains, remodelling rooms and well, generally doing things in places where they weren’t meant to be done (like lighting fires under painted wooden ceilings) – she can count herself fortunate that she exists at all. Almost a quarter of Sidon’s multi-millennial city, a golden sandstone warren of narrow alleys, graceful archways, hidden courtyards and cryptic staircases, not a few of which apparently lead to very dead ends, was flattened in 1982 during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. Ironically, amongst the casualties was at least one of the city’s oldest synagogues. Note the plural, here, for Sidon’s Jewish community has (or rather had, as it effectively ceased to exist during the civil war) a long and very rich history. The oldest synagogue (which is still inhabited by refugees) dates back to the 9th Century and sits on the remains of a smaller one that may have been built by Jews fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome around 70AD. The community itself traces its origins back to around 1000BC. Originally known as the Hammoud Palace, after the North African Ottoman notable who had it built, when the palace came into being, Sidon was one of the most important cities along the eastern Mediterranean, as it had been for almost 5000 years. Then, its foreign visitors were pilgrims and traders, some from as far afield as central Asia and northern Europe. Today, it still attracts outsiders, drawn by the charms built by the wealth of the past.
by wsinghbartlett / Instagram