A luxury shopping district built on the site of the old souks, and largely empty since the currency collapsed.
Before 1975 this was the commercial heart of Beirut — a dense quarter of covered souks, khans, alleys and shops that had been the market of the city for centuries, and where every community traded with every other.
The civil war destroyed it and the Green Line ran nearby. What remained was demolished during the postwar Solidere reconstruction.
What was built
Beirut Souks opened in stages from 2009, to a masterplan by Rafael Moneo with buildings by Moneo, Zaha Hadid, Kevin Dash and others.
Architecturally it is careful work. The street pattern of the old souks was partly retained, the scale is right, the stone is good, and the covered arcades handle the climate well.
Archaeological remains uncovered during construction were left exposed within the development — Phoenician, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Ottoman layers, including a stretch of the Canaanite tell and the Souk el Tawileh.
What went wrong
It was leased as an international luxury retail district — the same brands you find in any airport — at rents set for that market.
The result, even before the crisis, was a shopping centre with no relationship at all to the city around it, in the place where the city used to shop. That criticism was made from the day it opened and it was not unfair.
Then in 2019 the Lebanese currency collapsed, taking most of the domestic luxury market with it, and in 2020 the port explosion damaged the district.
A large proportion of the units are now empty. Walking through Beirut Souks on a weekday afternoon is a very quiet experience.
What is actually worth seeing
The archaeology, which is free, exposed and signposted in places.
The Ottoman fragments — the restored Souk el Jamil and a handful of surviving structures.
The Zaha Hadid department store building, which is a genuinely striking piece of architecture and which stood unfinished for years.
The cinema and the surviving Ottoman Majidieh Mosque at the edge.
The Egg is a few minutes away — see its own page.
Where to actually shop
Basta for antiques.
Hamra for bookshops and ordinary retail.
Mar Mikhael and Gemmayzeh for Lebanese design, ceramics and small independent shops. This is where the interesting things are made and sold.
Bourj Hammoud for gold, spices, Armenian food and cheap everything.
ABC Achrafieh and ABC Verdun for conventional malls.
Souk el Tayeb on Saturdays for food — see its page.
What is worth buying
Soap from Tripoli and Saida, made with olive oil.
Mouneh — preserves, zaatar, pomegranate molasses, olive oil.
Arak and Lebanese wine from the Bekaa.
Ceramics and glass — Lebanon has a revived hand-blown glass tradition, and workshops in the Chouf and the north.
Books. Beirut has been the publishing capital of the Arab world for decades, and the bookshops in Hamra reflect it.
