Rome granted the city the status of a colony and gave it the name Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus. The city has became the “gateway to Rome” and its rulers lavished upon its many beautiful public buildings.

Old Beirut was loved for its colorful market streets or souks.

Two thousand years ago Berytus was a great Roman city with many beautiful temples, theaters and public buildings. While most of these monuments have disappeared, a few Roman remains survive. One of these is a 1st century BC public bath just behind Bank Street.

Continually inhabited since the dawn of history, Beirut has been built and rebuilt over the centuries by the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs. Everyone of these civilizations constructed cities in the same small seaside area that now composes downtown Beirut. By chance or design, this is the very part of the capital that was devastated by war and that later became a reconstruction project.

The new Beirut, although modern, is traditional in spirit; skyscrapers have been kept to a minimum and a sea view has been retained whenever possible. The reconstruction project has made use of the ancient street grid-in many places identical to the pattern in Hellenistic and Roman times.

Although BEIRUT’s center and very essence has suffered from brutal attack, the city has never ceased to live. Now that peace has been restored, this zest for life is all more fervent.

Beirut, mysterious and with no other true beauty than that of the soul, embraces the body more than it seduces reason.