Restoration

The Anglo-American Cemetery is an non-for-profit organization that serves the American and British communities in Beirut. Its goal is to restore and preserve the eternal resting ground where affiliated members are buried. For this, support is needed and greatly appreciated. Roughly twenty years of civil war followed by political instability resulted in the overgrowth of plants, partial collapse of the perimeter walls and in some cases the damage of memorial stones.

A Centennial Restoration plan was prepared by AAC committee member Jad Salame.




Phase One consists of renovating the front (north) wall, which is currently filled with barbed wire, and the damaged back (south wall) This wall needs to be fully refitted in order to not only secure the cemetery as a sacred space but to prevent further deterioration. Moreover, the crumbling one hundred year old wall is in danger of collapsing fully onto the street. Phase One was completed in June 2015 and described in this post.






Phase Two consists of marking out the remaining plots in the cemetery, thereby establishing clearer pathways and plot borders. Water and electrical infrastructure will also be updated, including the purchase of a large cistern.








Individual graves are also also in need of repair or refurbishment. The most pressing in need of repair is that for John Wortabet and his family. Many of the marble slabs listing the names of the charnel house were damaged or destroyed during the Lebanese Civil War and need to be restored.









We also accept donations to create 'planted graves' at selected sites. This is a unique feature of the AAC, where suitable flowering plants and bushes are cultivated in designated plots. This creates a lovely, lasting memorial that is pleasing to the eye and highlights the memorial stone. Beautiful, water resistant and climate friendly plants are suggested, such as:

English name	Arabic name	English name	Arabic name
African Lily, Lily of the Nile	أغابنتوس	Begonia	بيغونيا
Basket of gold, Gold-dust	أليسوم	Mesembryanthemum	ميزُمبُرمتِمُم
Flossflower,Bluemink	أجيراتوم	Daylily	هيمروكاليس
African daisy	أركوتيس	Lily of the Valley	كونفلاريا
Heartleaf iceplant, Baby sun rose	أبتينيا	Gazania	غزانيا
Aster dwarf	أسِر	Geranium species	جيرانيوم
Amaryllis	أماريلييس	Florist's daisy, Hardy garden mum	قوقحان، كريزُانثم
Bougainvillea dwarf	بوغنفيليا قصير، جهنمية	Rose Dew plant	امبراتوس، حي علم صغير
Ice plant	كاربوبروتس، حي علم	Plumbago or leadwort	سيراتُستيغما   بلومبَينودس

 
Donations to support this crucial restoration work are very much needed. If you are interesting in giving please contact Mrs. Caroline Isaac-Hamdan  at Caroline (at) cgiconsultancy.com [replace (at) with @].