So much in Lebanon has become synonymous with loss. Physical loss, psychological loss, cultural loss. Beautiful buildings have been ravaged first by war, then by greedy corporations. Nowhere is this truer than in Tripoli.1 A now much-neglected city, it was once known for its craft industries and its Mamluk architecture. In the 1960s, Tripoli was recognized as a cultural hub when it was chosen as the backdrop of the Rachid Karami International Fair, designed by renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The construction of the fair, on the outskirts of the city, was abandoned on the brink of completion when the Lebanese Civil War erupted in 1975 and it became yet another ghost in a country haunted by many. Today, the site is surprisingly intact but derelict. In Niemeyer’s empty buildings—huge, sculptural and concrete—even the smallest of sounds is echoed back at you. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Seven Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 48 Cult Rooms After “completing” philosophy, Ludwig Wittgenstein tried—and failed—at architecture. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Draw the Line A short history of linear architecture. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Peer Review Hadani Ditmars on the disappearing legacy of Rifat Chadirji, Iraq’s most influential architect. Arts & Culture Issue 43 Stone Cold A history of spite architecture. Arts & Culture Issue 40 Olalekan Jeyifous On fantastical architecture and sci-fi Brooklyn. Arts & Culture Design Issue 39 What the Duck An introduction to duck architecture.
Arts & Culture Issue 48 Cult Rooms After “completing” philosophy, Ludwig Wittgenstein tried—and failed—at architecture.
Arts & Culture Issue 47 Peer Review Hadani Ditmars on the disappearing legacy of Rifat Chadirji, Iraq’s most influential architect.
