We Go Up, We Go Down: Staircases in Beirut
By Grace Landsberg
During the civil war, Beirut was separated into Eastern and Western halves by the Green Line. Ashrafieh, one of the city’s oldest districts, fell on the Eastern side of the Green Line. Mar Mikhael, a popular street full of bars and restaurants, connects Ashrafieh and the adjacent neighborhood of Gemmayze. Following along this path will eventually lead to Hamra, an upscale area home to the American University of Beirut, and once designated on the Western side of the Green line [i]. Many buildings along the way still bear scars of the civil war (1975 - 1990), or more recently from the Beirut Port Explosion of August 2020, located less than 5 kilometers away from the general area. Within the span of 30 minutes walking along one single street in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon, it is possible to transport through neighborhoods that still look very much like they did in the 1950’s, lined with bars or community spaces that were just created or rebuilt after August 2020.
The mountainous terrain of Lebanon is one of the country’s most distinctive features, which also makes the country a historic refuge for many diverse ethnic and religious groups. When travelers come to Beirut, they already expect to see the Mediterranean Sea and snow-capped mountains in one scene, along with many stray cats on the street. One element of Beirut that some travelers are surprised to find is the number of staircases in the city, particularly in the Ashrafieh neighborhood. However, the neighborhood of Ashrafieh was built around the highest hill in Beirut: the hill of Saint Dimitrios. As the city of Beirut began to grow, many staircases connecting the neighborhoods were built in order for residents and visitors to navigate the urbanizing landscape and to get to the train station that once existed in the city’s lower area below Ashrafieh [ii]. The importance of ‘connectors’ is reflected linguistically, too: in Arabic, there are verbs dedicated to the motion of going up and going down that can be used to describe the motions of ascending and descending staircases. The neighborhood of Ashrafieh sits above the popular street of Mar Mikhael, making the staircases a point of connection between the current scene at bars and restaurants and the rich history of the city on the hill above. Local business owners and residents often meet for coffee on these stairs every day, the artwork is created in the most unexpected of places, and protests have been energized or even originated on the basis of the staircases. Locals used to build these semi-secret passageways to the train station below on Mar Mikhael from their homes in Geitawi. Now, they are open gathering spaces for artwork and coffee breaks. There are around eight or more known staircases in this area [iii]. The four main staircases that will be discussed in this article are the Geara Stairs, known locally as the Vendome Stairs, and the Al Khazinien Stairs, the Massaad Stairs, and the Saint Nicholas Stairs, the last of which is located in the adjacent neighborhood of Gammayze. To gain a local perspective on these landmarks, residents, business owners, and employees near each of these staircases were interviewed.
Stair 1: Vendome Stairs
During the summer, the Geara Stairs, known by residents as the Vendome Stairs, is crowded with people at the local bars and cafes that sit along the sides of them. The name Vendome stairs come from a cinema that used to exist next to the staircase, which has since disappeared [iv]. The stairs offer generous resting platforms for people to hang out, and help those ascending, as they are quite steep and tall. If ascending, the popular bar, ‘Strada’, sits on the left side of the stairs, directly next to a quaint cafe called Sol Insight. The bar is so well known that the stairs will also sometimes be called “Strada Stairs.” Graffiti with messages of thowra (revolution) and “LGBT RULES” can be seen scribbled on this staircase, giving the walker a glimpse into Beirut’s younger, more open, and progressive culture.
Stair 2: Saint George / Al Khazinien Stairs
Walking along Mar Mikhael and toward Gammayze, the next staircase that an observer will come across is the most colorful, but no one is quite sure of the name. These stairs can be easily overlooked, as they are back about 100 meters in an alley in between two bars on Mar Mikhael. Locals will know exactly the staircase being discussed and where it leads to, but there is no official name for these steps. Online, it has occasionally been incorrectly credited as the ‘Massaad Stairs’, which are in fact the next staircase along the street. There are locals who insist these are in fact the Massaad stairs. However, with the high-profile project going on that dubbed the next staircase with this name, it is likely this staircase will fade to be known as such (‘Massaad Stairs’) and remain unknown or sometimes called “the colorful stairs.” This staircase connects Mar Mikhael to a residential street called Al Khazinien, and the well-known Saint George Hospital, the oldest Lebanese hospital (in Arabic “Meshfa Roum”). The stairs are a bit secretive, making them primarily a passage for residents of the Geitawi neighborhood to descend down to Mar Mikhael, or for the quickest passage to the nearest hospital by foot from Mar Mikhael. Their colors give them an impression of a hidden, colorful gem.
Stair 3: Massaad Stairs
The Massaad stairs are the next staircase along Mar Mikhael on the way to Gammayze. This set of stairs wears a large sign detailing the organizations that have participated in their rehabilitation, a project initiated by the European Union and supported by many other Lebanese and international organizations for responsibilities from project management, design, and funding. Small green space installations have been placed along the sides of the stairs, a welcome sight in Beirut. Residential buildings line the stairs, along with a new, welcoming cafe called Common Ground.
Stair 4: Saint Nicholas Stairs in Gammayze
The Saint Nicholas staircase in the neighborhood of Gammayze is known as a staircase full of artwork– and a romantic Italian restaurant. The Museum Sursock sits directly at the top of the stairs, a modern and contemporary art museum often crowded with experimental and interactive art exhibits during the warmer months. Along the stairs there are poems written on the walls, political graffiti, and murals, including one dedicated to all the victims of the Port Explosion [v]. Music festivals and calligraphy events can be attended along these stairs during the summertime. Currently, there is a sound installation, where QR codes can be scanned for sounds to produce an immersive experience on the stairs.
Lebanon has certainly seen better days: the economic crisis, which began in October 2019, has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic since 2020, and the subsequent Beirut Port Explosion in August of 2020. However, the stairs continue to serve as places for gathering, strength, and community for foreigners and locals alike. After spending just a few days in Beirut, the strength of the people can be felt in the calf muscles developed by the stairs, and the signs of resilience inscribed on them: whether in the graffiti or the local businesses that continue to serve their communities during the hardest of times. The constant ascent and descent serves as a constant reminder that what goes up must always come down.
Citations:
[i] Lebanon - Civil War.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/place/Lebanon/Civil-war#ref386593. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.
[ii] “Lebanon | People, Economy, Religion, & History.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/place/Lebanon#ref23385. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022
[iii] “PressReader.Com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions.” PressReader.Com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions, www.pressreader.com, 1 Dec. 2014, https://www.pressreader.com/lebanon/lebanon-traveler/20141201/281586649093079.
[iv] Merlo, Veronica. “Beirut’s Historic Landmarks between Resilience and Destruction: The Case of Vendome Stairs.” Beirut Today, beirut-today.com, 14 Aug. 2019, https://beirut-today.com/2019/08/14/vendome-stairs/.
[v] “Lebanon - St. Nicholas Center.” St. Nicholas Center, www.stnicholascenter.org, https://www.stnicholascenter.org/around-the-world/customs/lebanon. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.