Emblematic figure of the defense of the architectural heritage of Beirut, Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, described by some as “
memory
” of the Lebanese capital, died on Monday, August 31 at the age of 98, announced her relatives on Facebook.
They did not specify whether his death was directly linked to his injuries in the explosion at the port of Beirut which on August 4 left at least 188 dead, more than 6,500 injured and devastated entire parts of the city.
Read also: We must save Beirut's heritage
At the head of the Association for the Protection of Sites and Ancient Houses (APSAD) of Beirut, founded in the 1960s, Ms. Sursock Cochrane has dedicated her life to the preservation of an architectural heritage battered by 15 years of civil war ( 1975-1990), followed by a long era of wild and chaotic reconstruction which she denounced as an “
archaeological massacre
”.
"
Beirut, once one of the jewels of the Mediterranean, has become its rubbish
", denounced in the 1990s "
Lady Cochrane
", calling for "to
make this country the garden of the Middle East
".
The blast of the gigantic explosion of August 4 threw her several meters from the terrace where she used to have tea, covering her with wounds and bruises.
Its palace, a 19th-century architectural gem, was also damaged, with doors torn off, stained glass windows smashed and Ottoman-era wooden panels swept away.
"Lady Cochrane"
The Sursocks are one of the largest Greek Orthodox families in Lebanon, descended from merchants who fled the sack of Constantinople in 1453. They rebuilt their fortunes, with palaces, land and industrial investments in Egypt, Palestine and in Liban.
Married to an Irish lord, Yvonne Sursock Cochrane was almost the age of her country, which celebrates its first centenary on Tuesday.
On social networks, the announcement of his death aroused excitement and nostalgia, Internet users deploring the loss of a "
memory of Beirut
".
"
A page of a certain refined, cultivated and cosmopolitan Lebanon is turning,
" responded a user on Facebook.
According to Unesco, 640 historic buildings were affected by the explosion and 60 are at risk of collapse.
The director of the UN agency, Audrey Azoulay, estimated at several hundred million dollars the damage suffered during a press conference held in the gardens of the Palace of "
Lady Cochrane
" in Beirut.