The Pervasiveness of the “Sacred” in Beirut’s Public Spaces. “A Preliminary Geographical Analysis” | ||
| Arts and Architecture Journal | ||
| Volume 3, Issue 2, December 2022, Pages 136-158 PDF (902.59 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/aaj.2022.274633 | ||
| Author | ||
| Christiane SFEIR | ||
| Professor, Lebanese University, and research units, CERDA Lebanese University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This paper aims to very briefly analyse, through geographer’s eyes, the various religious and secular actors’ strategies in their process of production of sacred spaces in Beirut, Lebanon. The eighteen Lebanese religious communities present in the country each mark Beirut’s urban landscape with religious symbols and signs that are also very often politically charged. Our assumption is that “sacred” space cannot be limited just to religious buildings; in Beirut, it is expressed by taking over public spaces, transforming easily accessible secular loci into areas that impose rules and specific codes of behaviour. In the city, religious events are expressed through spiritual, cultural, social and architectural venues. Beirut is marked by symbols merging politics and religion, with a regular use of religion by the media working for political parties; thus, each quarter of the city is marked by a particular political ideology that reflects the religious identity of its inhabitants through specific codes and signs. These vary according to their geographical position and time frames. The religious affiliations of the majority of the inhabitants of a particular region impose codes that mark particular public spaces. This geography is rendered even more complex by the specific religious calendars observed by each religion: spatial “sacredness” thus begins and ends on clear-cut dates for each religion, producing specific spaces created, recognized and used differently by the various segments of the city’s population. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Religion; Geography; Beirut; Lebanon; “Sacred” spaces; Politics; Scales | ||
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