By following them, the Bkerzay paths lead to Ramzi Salman<

“Bkerzay is a village but now also a book. A book as a final point to the built work and its essential complement. He dreamed it, thought it, desired it, designed it and made it happen. First this magical place located between Baakline and Deir Dourit in the Barouk massif. A village baptized Bkerzay and which perfectly illustrates Ramzi Salman's love for his village, for "the beautiful Lebanon of yesteryear", as he calls it, free and open to the world, and with all the values ​​that are a little lost more every day. A fine proof of his unfailing attachment to nature, architecture and the Lebanese soul, which can be found throughout the 343 pages of The trails of Bkerzay, in search of Levantine charm (ed. Antoine), accompanied beautiful photos, laid out by Earlybird and printed by Anis Printing Press.

Following them, these paths of Bkerzay lead to Ramzi Salman, or is it the opposite? In any case, the union between these two energies, like an unconditional and reciprocal love, gave birth to this work which the author, as he admits, took “in reality 50 years to write”. Just as it will have, somewhere, taken 50 years to build this eco-village anchored in the heart of the Chouf on an area of ​​200,000 m2. “A project for the preservation and revitalization of the mountain, its villages and its villagers,” as he defines it.

The village of Bkerzay, a success. Photo DR

Save Lebanon

Director of the A.R. Hourie construction group, this architect by training who has a taste for beauty, a taste for words as well, has chosen, in a text written in French, a story that modestly and simply takes on the air of autobiography, even if he denies it, where each shared memory leads to Bkerzay. "I am a Lebanese who lived his childhood and adolescence in Ras Beirut, who left Lebanon twice to return there after a lull," he says. A Lebanese who has seen and experienced the beautiful Lebanon of yesteryear. Who retained all his life the elements of beauty of this Levantine country on the shores of the Mediterranean. Who has witnessed the decline and degradation of our environment, our heritage and our quality of life. And who rebelled one day by building this project, to set a good example, to create jobs in the mountains and anchor the villagers to their land. »

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In a Coffee table Book format, through the pages, the reader is embarked on a walk punctuated by confidences and illustrations full of poetry by Maha Nasrallah. Twenty-seven chapters in which scroll the childhood memories of an unruly schoolboy, the playgrounds, the first loves, the Beirut of his parents, a glorious city and reference of good manners "during which, he is indignant he, Lebanon has gone from a country of dreams and beauty to a country of nightmares and degradation”. Then those of the teenager, the husband, the exiled father with his family in the United States, before the big return. In this story, Salman tries to return to the sources that inspired him to build this colossal project, insane in the eyes of skeptics, dictated by a typical Lebanese architecture equipped with the latest technology which has made it an example of ecological harmony. “This book was necessary to explain the why of Bkerzay. It completes the story of this village that has become self-sufficient by providing jobs for 100 families. This place is above all a tribute to Lebanon, a reaction to its destruction. And to continue: “The search for Levantine charm, as indicated in the title, is the guiding theme. I wrote this book to explain that the project took not only 23 months to be built, but in fact more than 50 years of my life, during which each lived experience, each element remained in my head as a box images and sensations. He cites, among other landmarks, the vault of the Place de Bkerzay which frames the sea, inspired by an arch in Ras Beirut which was in the house then called Maison Total; the path through the forest that leads to the village, inspired by the Abdelmalek house in Bater “where my parents took us on Sundays. Or the Caves du Roy, the local architecture and nature, the AUB campus, the scent of IC, Ras Beirut and Sporting, Gemmayzé and the fabulous houses on Sursock Street. Aley, Bhamdoun, Sofar, Jezzine, the songs of Feyrouz or the smell of Turkish coffee… These elements and these places which constitute the indelible charm of the Lebanese Levant”.

A book like a fight for Lebanon to remain. Photo DR

With this book, Ramzi Salman signs with his sensitivity, his frankness, his nostalgia and his anger two accomplishments that will have given his life the meaning he has always sought and shared. "It is Lebanon that we want to find to offer it to our children and our grandchildren...", he concludes in a last wish.

*The signing will take place on Wednesday, December 22, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Maison Rayes, rue Sursock.

Present in all the points of sale of the Librairie Antoine, "The trails of Bkerzay, in search of Levantine charm" also finds its legitimate and privileged place at the Bkerzay shop, between pottery and other souvenirs made by the master potters of the village. An English version is planned for January while waiting for the Arabic version, which will certainly follow.