Abandoned Prime Minister's mansion in Beirut -- infiltration photos

Chris sez, "Craig Finlay has been posting to the Flickr pool 'infiltration' some photos of an abandoned mansion in Beirut that turns out to be the former prime minister's. Amazing."

I saw this abandoned mansion last week from the street and went in with my friend Michel as translator in case we ran into anyone. It took a bit of jimmying to force the door, and inside we found piles and piles of of binders and dozens of black and white photos, all showing one man at various political events.

It turns out the mansion used to be the home of Takieddin el-Solh (born 1908, Sidon, Lebanon; died November 27, 1988, Paris) Lebanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1973-74, and again briefly in 1980. The binders were full of voter lists and various political documents. I'm assuming he abandoned the place during the civil war and moved to a more secure location. The house is in the Sunni section, but was within easy artillery distance of the Green Line.

Abandoned Mansion - Beirut (Thanks, Chris!)

[#1 posted by Anonymous , January 9, 2009 1:17 PM]

One of the photos shows a floor filled with clay pots. Anyone have an explanation for that?

[#2 posted by IWood , January 9, 2009 1:48 PM]

Kimchi!

No, wait...

[#3 posted by mrsomuch , January 9, 2009 3:23 PM]

how strange, I was living in Brumana, in the mountains above Beirut from 1980 - 1982... it would make complete sense that he abandon it around this time as iirc (I was only ickle) this was a very intense time. It seems strange that it could go undisturbed for so long. Lovely pictures too.

[#4 posted by BelchFire3000 , January 9, 2009 3:52 PM]

Abandoned? Only needed a *little* jimmying?

[#5 posted by Jack , January 9, 2009 10:41 PM]

Might sound crazy, but are there concepts of haunted houses in the mid-east? I mean any ghost would be terrified of what's happening right now... But beyond the whole religious spirit concept, is there any tales of souls lost in limbo wandering the desert and dunes to find some peace?

Because if there isn't I think it might be a decent piece of speculative fiction: Haunted ghost of a war torn town interacting with the people of today.

[#6 posted by Takuan , January 9, 2009 10:52 PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghul

[#7 posted by Jack , January 9, 2009 11:53 PM]

Nice, Takuan! Now I finally understand where Ghouls came from.

[#8 posted by padster123 , January 10, 2009 6:24 AM]

Fascinating. I find pictures of abandoned, decaying places like this strangely appealing, yet terrifying. Perhaps all our homes and cities will look like this in a few decades.

[#9 posted by sebastiano , January 10, 2009 5:49 PM]

I love things that are great, things that make me say wow...