BEIRUT: Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, a leading advocate of arts and cultural heritage in Lebanon, has died at the age of 98 after sustaining injuries in the Beirut port explosion last month.
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, who campaigned tirelessly for the preservation of Lebanon’s architectural heritage throughout her life,” a statement from the Sursock Museum, which she helped develop, said.
Cochrane, who died on Monday on the eve of Lebanon’s centenary, was a pioneer in developing awareness of the architectural and cultural heritage of Lebanon.
The only daughter of the Lebanese aristocrat Alfred Bey Sursock and his Italian wife, Donna Maria Theresa, she founded the Association for the Protection of Natural Sites and Ancient Homes in Lebanon (APSAD), and was its president from 1960 to 2002.
“We come from a country that unfortunately has no memory. And without memory, we will have no future,” Cochrane said in an undated video posted by the Sursock Museum’s instagram page on Tuesday.
The explosion killed more than 190 people, injured 6,000 and destroyed entire neighborhoods, including several of her family’s buildings.
Cochrane was the chairwoman of the Sursock Museum committee from 1960 to 1966, and was a pivotal figure its development in its early years.
Her historic mansion, one of the architectural jewels of the city and a pillar of its cultural calendar, was very badly damaged in the blast.
According to UNESCO, 640 historic buildings were severely damaged by the explosion and 60 are at risk of collapse.
Advocate of Lebanon’s arts dies after suffering injuries in blast
https://arab.news/p7vqf
Advocate of Lebanon’s arts dies after suffering injuries in blast
- Cochrane was a pioneer in developing awareness of the architectural and cultural heritage of Lebanon
- The explosion killed more than 190 people, injured 6,000 and destroyed entire neighborhoods
Macron, Iraqi Kurdish leader urge ‘de-escalation’ in Syria
- The Islamist-led authorities in Damascus are seeking to extend their control over all of Syria, after toppling former president Bashar Assad a little over a year ago
PARIS, France: France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, in telephone talks on Saturday urged a cessation of fighting in Syria, the French presidency said.
They “called on all parties for an immediate de-escalation and a permanent ceasefire,” it said, after fighting in recent days between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and government troops in the country’s north.
The SDF control swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which they captured during the civil war and the battle against the Daesh group.
The Islamist-led authorities in Damascus are seeking to extend their control over all of Syria, after toppling former president Bashar Assad a little over a year ago.
Both sides signed a deal in March last year to merge the semi-autonomous Syrian Kurdish administration and its forces into the new government, but implementation has largely stalled.
Macron and Barzani said they backed “the immediate resumption of talks on integrating the SDF into the Syrian state,” the French presidency added.
