When I get across Beit Beirut in Sodeco, it always reminds me of when I first came to live in this city as it struck me when I first saw it. Coming from Verdun I sometimes get off the service at this point and continue my route to Sassine by foot. Just to be able to observe the details of this beautifully painful building while busy people pass by, car engines & honks of services as background noise. It carries the wounds of a tormented times and I then think about how terrible it must've been at that time. But it also is a testimony of Beirut's cultural past and I feel hope when I leave the place as it will be renovated, keeping its initial spirit and perpetuate the cultural value of the city.