I recently got a better look at the ruins discovered at the “Saifi Plaza” project, which I have been blogging about lately. There seems to have been significant progress since my last post, earlier this summer. Some activists believe the site, which is slated to become a series of office buildings, could contain Roman baths.
Of course it’s hard to tell because government-employed archeologists maintain a policy of not speaking publicly on new digs and discourage photography and discussion about them in the press.
If we zoom in, there appears to be an underground structure or chamber with large stones:
Could it be a Roman structure due to the large size of the stones, perhaps part of a wall or foundation?
To the left of this, a number of stones also seem to have been recovered or dismantled from the site, near the bulldozer:
Here’s a closer view:
If anyone has more info about this site, please feel free to share in the comments below or get in touch via the ‘contact us’ form at the top of the page.
5 comments
Completely off-topic but I love the new layout of the site. Much better!
Thank you!
Just out of curiosity, do you know what’s going on more or less across the street from this site (on the other side of the ring road, on the corner about 200 meters or so below the bechara al khoury statue)?
You mean under the bridge? An excavation began there a few weeks ago. I’ll post pictures soon.
Hello Habib
thx for sharing these articles about beirut’s ruins.
i am doing an architectural / Landscape project in marthyre square
regenerating the long piazza and making it a public infrastructure.
i would like to preserve the ruins that are there and integrate them in the project.
i live in italy, your pictures were very helpful to imagine the kind of ruins that are in Beirut.
do you have pictures of the excavated site at the beginning (towards the sea) of marthyre square ( in front of Virgin) ?
and what do you think the ruins would look like if we excavate the square? would it be almost the same as in Saifi , or a kind of hippodrome, or a public building, viewing the position and the geometry of the square ?
thank you
Best wishes
Farid