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Beirut Hippodrome


Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, is home to two hippodromes, a historic one from the Roman era and a modern one that was built in the late 19th century.

The Roman Hippodrome, which occupies 3500 m² near the Maghen Abraham Synagogue in Wadi Abu Jamil, the historic, Jewish quarter of Beirut, was discovered in 1988. The Roman Hippodrome of Beirut was the second to be discovered in Lebanon after the Tyre Hippodrome, making Lebanon home to two of the five known Roman hippodromes in the Levant, the other three being in Caesarea in Israel, Jerash in Jordan, and Bosra in Syria. The Roman Hippodrome of Beirut is considered to have been the grandest of the five, having amphitheaters that are several meters high and a race track, which is more than 90 meters long.

In 2009, Culture Minister Tamam Salam, had the site listed officially in the general inventory of historic buildings, ruling that it should be preserved in situ and turned into a tourist landmark.

According to an article appearing in the French daily, L’Orient le Jour, Gaby Layoun, the Culture Minister at the time, approved in March 2012 plans for a luxury residential complex to be built over the ruins of Beirut’s Roman Hippodrome, bypassing the recommendations of three of his predecessors: Tarek Mitri, Salim Wardé, and Tammam Salam. The three previous Culture Ministers, Mitri, Wardé, and Salam criticized Layoun's move and reiterated the importance of protecting and preserving the archeological site. A march to protest the destruction of the hippodrome took place on March 24, 2012. The Association for the Protection of the Lebanese Heritage (APLH) organized the protest as an attempt to reverse the Culture Ministry's decision to allow the building over the hippodrome. Following the litigation brought by the Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage (APLH), the court suspended on May 31, 2012 the Culture Ministry's decision, N˚ 849, to dismantle the Roman Hippodrome that would have allowed for the construction of a building project on the site. The site is protected for now.

The current Beirut Hippodrome, officially called Hippodrome du parc de Beyrouth, is a horse-racing facility in Beirut's Horsh district adjacent to Badaro.


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