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Hariri memorial near completion - with Syrian stone

09 February 2008

BEIRUT: The memorial for former Premier Rafik Hariri at the site of his assassination in Ain al-Mreisseh is being built with stone from Syria, the firm in charge the project says. "It's from Syria," Bashir Dimassi, executive manager of Geneco, told The Daily Star Friday.

Hariri and 22 others were killed in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005, in front of the St. George Hotel, an attack which Hariri's family and his political allies immediately blamed on Syria. Damascus has denied any involvement, while in May 2007 the UN created the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to try suspects in the killing and in the numerous other political assassinations in Lebanon since then.

Geneco chose to use Syrian stone because its quality surpasses that of the material excavated in Lebanon, Dimassi said.

"You won't find the same quality in Lebanon," he said. "It's a natural stone that we take from the ground in blocks."

Dimassi added that his company was pressed for time in construction, having two and a half months to build the memorial, which will be unveiled Thursday, the third anniversary of Hariri's assassination.

Geneco has used the same Syrian stone to build many other projects in Lebanon, such as a mosque in Sidon, he added.

Syria offers builders certain types of stone, such as basalt, which cannot be found in Lebanon, said Jamil Bou Haran, business development manager at Holcim , Lebanon's largest cement maker.

The stone for the Hariri site, though not as hard as marble, differs from the light limestone used to make ready-mix concrete, a limestone which Lebanon has in abundance and of the same quality as in Syria, Dimassi explained.

Syria provided all the types of limestone used in Lebanon for a number of years after the state banned the extraction of limestone in September 2002, Bou Haran added.

"All the supplies came from Syria for two or three years," he said, adding that limestone is mined in Lebanon today under special permits that have to be renewed every six months.

The Syrian stone for the Hariri memorial has been sculpted to create a 700-square-meter replica of the garden of the Hariri family residence in Qoreitem, Dimassi said. A 6-meter bronze statue of the late premier will adorn the garden, Dimassi added.

It will look "as if Mr. Hariri is standing in his garden at home in Qoreitem," Dimassi said.

Water will flow around the edges of the site to create the impression that the garden sits on a body of water, Dimassi added.

"It will look as if it's raised on water," he said.

A bronze pole with a clock will stand near Hariri's statue, and each day at 12:55 p.m. - the time of Hariri's killing - the clock will emit the sounds of church bells and the Islamic call to prayer for five minutes, Dimassi said.

During the same five minutes a flame will also rise from a 4-meter statue in the garden in the middle of five bronze Lebanese flags, he added.

Dimassi would not reveal the cost of the memorial, which was paid for by the Hariri family on land provided by the city, he said. Hariri's Future Movement and its allies in the ruling March 14 Forces coalition have called on "all the Lebanese people" to gather in Beirut's Martyrs Square, where Hariri is buried, to mark Thursday's third anniversary of his death.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2008.