Culture of Lebanon

1. Culture of
Lebanon
Presented By:
Reyes/Bela-ong/Solis
Tugadi/Centeno/Costemiano

2. Lebanon
• The culture of Lebanon is the cross
culture of various civilizations over
thousands of years. Originally home to
the Phoenicians, and then subsequently
conquered and occupied by the
Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the
Romans, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the
Ottoman Turks and most recently the
French.

3. Lebanon
• Lebanese culture has over the millennia
evolved by borrowing from all of these
groups. Lebanon's diverse population,
composed of different ethnic and
religious groups, has further contributed
to the country's festivals, musical styles
and literature as well as cuisine.

4. Lebanon
• Despite the ethnic, linguistic, religious
and denominational diversity of the
Lebanese, they “share an almost
common culture”. Lebanese Arabic is
universally spoken while food, music, and
literature are deep-rooted “in wider
Mediterranean and Levantine norms”.

5. Arts
• By the turn of the 20th century, Beirut
was vying with Cairo to be the major
center for modern Arab thought, with
many newspapers, magazines and
literary societies. Additionally, Beirut
became a thriving epicenter of Armenian
culture with varied productions that was
exported to the Armenian diaspora.

6. Visual Arts
• Mustafa Farroukh was one of
Lebanon's most prominent painters
of the 19th century. Formally trained
in Rome and Paris, he exhibited in
venues from Paris to New York to
Beirut over his career.

7. Contemporary Art
• Contemporary Art started in Beirut
immediately after the end of the civil war
(1975-1991) with the alternative
artworks of Anita Toutikian. Many more
contemporary artists are currently active,
such as Walid Read, a contemporary
media artist currently residing in New
York.

8. Architecture
• The Italianate, specifically, Tuscan,
influence on architecture in Lebanon
dates back to the Renaissance when
Fakhreddine, the first Lebanese ruler
who truly unified Mount Lebanon
with its Mediterranean coast
executed an ambitious plan to
develop his country.

9. Arabic Literature
• Khalil Gibran (1883–1931),
who was born in Bsharri, is
particularly known for his
book The Prophet (1923),
which has been translated
into more than twenty
different languages. Several
contemporary Lebanese
writers have also achieved
international success;
including Elias Khoury, Amin
Maalouf, Hanan al-Shaykh,
and Georges Schehadé.

10. Music
• Music is pervasive in Lebanese society. While
traditional folk music remains popular in
Lebanon, modern music reconciling Western
and traditional Arabic styles, pop, and fusion
are rapidly advancing in popularity. Radio
stations feature a variety of music, including
traditional Lebanese, classical Arabic,
Armenian and modern French, English,
American, and Latin tunes

11. Music
• Prominent traditional
musicians include
Fairuz, an icon during
the civil war, Sabah,
Wadih El Safi, Majida El
Roumi, and Najwa
Karam who built an
international audience
for the genre.

12. Media
• Lebanon is not only a regional center of
media production but also the most
liberal and free in the Arab world.
According to Press freedom's Reporters
Without Borders, "the media have more
freedom in Lebanon than in any other
Arab country".

13. Cinema
• Cinema of Lebanon, according to film
critic and historian, Roy Armes, was the
only other cinema in the Arabic-speaking
region, beside Egypt's, that could amount
to a national cinema. Cinema in Lebanon
has been in existence since the 1920s,
and the country has produced over 500
films..

14. Theatre
• Lebanese theatre has its origin in passion
plays. The musical plays of Maroun
Naccache from the mid-1800s are
considered the birth of modern Arab
theatre. Some scholars like Abdulatif
Shararah divided theatre in Lebanon into
three phases: translations of European
plays, Arab nationalism, and realism.

15. End of Lebanon
Culture