Living Heritage

OUR WORK.

Living Heritage.

Culture is central to how we see the world. It shapes both our worldview and our identity. Valuing and protecting our Cultural Heritage is therefore fundamental for a healthy and inclusive society.

Cultural Heritage can be either tangible (buildings, monuments, structures) or intangible (arts, traditions, social practices, knowledge about nature, traditional crafts).
It represents our common past, but also our current customs and practices : the popular songs we heard as children, the traditional dances we dance at weddings, the historical monuments that make us proud of our identity, our mother's and grandmother's culinary skills...
However, all these aspects that so deeply shape us are at risk of getting lost in a standardized, profit-oriented world. While we certainly don't oppose progress and innovation, we think that a better tomorrow should integrate our Heritage instead of erasing it.

For us, protecting Heritage means keeping it alive. This means integrating it into our everyday life and using it as a source of economic opportunities. Our work therefore revolves around the concept of Living Heritage: Heritage embedded in local societies, that creates economic value and oportunities as well as a sense of community.

We believe that dabke, arak, traditional architecture & co are neither outdated nor "economically irrelevant" and we aim to show how our Heritage can and should contribute to a modern, sustainable and responsible society.
We value our shared heritage and perpetuate it in a way that is integrated into society's everyday life.

While Heritage should always be protected and restored, we believe that its preservation only makes sense with the participation of those that are directly concerned. That's why, when we revive old buildings and perpetuate traditions, we always do so in collaboration with and to the benefit of local communities.

WHAT WE DO:

Adaptive reuse of traditional buildings
Supporting local 'mouneh' production and craftmanship
Workshops around traditional arts & crafts
Perpetuating traditional knowledge and ancient techniques
Creating economic opportunities in and around living heritage
Encouraging Sustainable Tourism by creating Heritage Routes
Raising awareness and a sense of community

See the details of our projects below!

"The heritage of the past is the seed
that brings forth the harvest of the future.”

- WENDELL PHILIPS

Our projects.

Beit Jeddé - Mtein.

Adaptive reuse is the process of reusing an existing building or site for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is closely related to the conservation of historical buildings and can, in a way, be seen as the process of 'recycling' an old building by giving it a new purpose and life while retaining its historic features.
Adaptive reuse opens economic opportunities to the surrounding communities, since less resources are needed for building and more resources can be allocated to the creation of jobs.

Our flagship project, BEIT JEDDE - MTEIN, is the perfect example of adaptive reuse: We renovated an old village house and transformed it into a multi-purpose space that serves both the community and its visitors.

Beit Jeddé hosts:

A Community Hub that organizes various workshops and heritage-related activities during the summer season
A Guesthouse where we welcome visitors and help them discover the historical treasures of Mtein and its surroundings
A Mouneh & Crafts boutique (see below)
A Recycling/Sorting Station where neighbors can drop off their recyclables and help us contribute to save our environment

VISIT PROJECT PAGE

The Mouneh & Crafts Project.

We firmly believe that there is a shift in our societies away from mass consumption and back to local, traditional and handmade products. We therefore encourage small producers who perpetuate traditional knowledge and ancient techniques.

Our Mouneh Project perpetuates traditional food preserving methods while allowing community members, mostly women, to earn an additional income. All products are locally made according to traditional techniques and using only natural ingredients. As an NGO, Boukra provides the packaging and ensures that the highest food security standards are met. All proceeds go directly to the producers.

We also encourage traditional crafts and techniques.

Our range of products includes:

Traditional 'Mouneh' products: various jams, preserves, pickles, kechek, distillates and syrups
Handmade Natural Soap production
Crafts like embroidery, crochet, procelain painting

Art Workshops & Cultural Events.

The transmission of our Cultural Heritage to youger generations is one of our core missions.

We organize workshops and seminars around various topics such as Performing Arts (music, dance, spoken word) or Traditional Crafts where kids and adults are initiated to these traditional arts and techniques.

We also host heritage-related film screenings (Ard Bayyeh, by Home of Cine-Jam, My grandfather's picture by Wassim Geagea) and performances from local artists.

Art for Heritage.

With the contribution of local and international artists, we raise awareness on the importance of Heritage-related issues.

We plan to host a yearly artist residency at Beit Jeddé in May, where the artists interacts with the public and the resulting artworks are then exhibited during summer.

COMING SOON.