Beirut Explosion Devastates City and Cultural Community
The blast in Beirut’s port just after 6pm on August 4 destroyed huge swathes of the city and crippled the local art scene. Letitia Gallery’s director, Gaia Foudolian, and architect Jean-Marc Bonfils, a professor at the Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, were killed in the explosion.
Others suffered damage to their property. Located adjacent to the port area, the gallery Marfa’ Projects posted photos to its Instagram showing fragments of a metal grate and glass debris lying in its exhibition area, an artwork pierced by shrapnel, and the back office collapsed into a pile of drywall. Galerie Tanit, located in Mar Mikhael in a building designed by Bonfils, also sustained heavy interior damage.
In Gemmayze, directly south of the port, the explosion partially destroyed
