Sunday, June 03, 2007

Rare Pictures from Lebanon

Early last month I received an email from Karen Channel which included some old, rare and beautiful pictures from around Lebanon. I immediately thought I should share these with the readers of this blog, but since they were embedded directly to the email. I couldn't figure out a way to copy them individually into a jpeg format suitable for posting to the blog. I finally figured out that I could do this using MS OneNote.

While concentrating on this task I didn't notice that they all had an inscription of "habeeb.com" on the pictures, so worrying about copyright I visited habeeb.com (http://www.habeeb.com/) last night to see if I can get permission to post the pictures, particularly since I had spent so much time formatting and uploading the pictures and then forming and arranging a draft for the entry to the blog.

First of all I discovered a new world in habeeb.com. This is a site well worth visiting. There are all sorts of goodies there, from ordering "baklawa" (the traditional Lebanese sweet delicacy) online, to various pictures of Lebanon, historical facts and maps. There was no "contact us" facility, so I used the "Testimonials" page to leave a message asking for permission to use the pictures Karen had sent me.

Then I saved the post for the future thinking that, like so many times in this kind of situation, I wouldn't get a response and I'll post the entry at a later date. However, to my amazement, this morning I got this email:

"Hello Sarmad: Thank you for visiting. Please feel free to post our photos on your blog and give credit to habeeb.com.

I enjoyed looking and browsing your BHS photos from the 70s. It is a small world indeed. My aunts lived in Broummana and were teachers at BHS in the 70's. Your group may know them. I think at least two of them taught at BHS:

Soaud Kanaan (mother of Namir & Roula & Joumana Kanaan)
Melvina Lahad
Nouhad Abou Joudeh

Best wishes
Habeeb"

Small world indeed... I couldn't believe it!

I don't recognize any of the names mentioned, but if any of you reading this do recognize them I'd like to know please.

And finally, thank you Habeeb for your permission, for your speedy response, and for your kind comments.

For the rest of you, enjoy some spectacular pictures:



a house in Beirut 1892, University of St. Joseph in Beirut 1892


Bikfaya 1894, Dleptah 1894, Ghazir 1893


Qannoubine 1898



Harajel 1894, Hasroun 1898, Jbeil (Byblos) 1893


Tripoli 1896


Batroun 1893, Nabi Younis 1898, Nahr Al Kalb 1894

Qozhaya 1896



Ras Baalbek 1895, Saida 1898


Yammouni 1891


Zahle 1891 and 1896


Sour 1898


3 comments:

lebanesa said...

How lovely!
Something so emotional about these old pics.
the names sound familiar - maybe they will echo in my head later.
Thanks for all your efforts, as always Sarmad

lebanesa said...

wow!
I've just had a look at habeeb.com - what a treasure trove of gorgeous pictures.
Definitely one to share with the world and his wife.

Bobbie said...

I love these old pictures of Lebanon. So many fit my memory of the days spent there. Thank you for posting them.