Music:  Fairuz  O Also known as

“Ambassador to the Stars,” Fairuz is one of the most admired living singers in the Arab world.

O Fairuz is a Lebanese icon and a symbol of Lebanese nationalism.

Theater:  The  Rahbani  Brothers  O The Rahbani

Brothers, Assi and Mansour, were Lebanese composers, musicians, songwriters, authors, playwrights/dramatists, philosophers and poets.

O They are still a staple of Lebanese theater.

Literature:  Gibran  Khalil  Gibran  O Gibran was a Lebanese

artist, poet, and writer. O Born in Bsharri, north

Lebanon before relocating to the U.S.

O Chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book, The Prophet.

O Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi.

Literature:  Amin  Maalouf  O Amin Maalouf was

born in Beirut in 1949 but relocated to France in 1976.

O He writes in French. O He was elected at the

Académie Française on 23 June 2011, on seat 29 making him the first Lebanese to be inducted as an academy immortal.

Architecture:  Sursock  Palace  O The Sursock Museum is a

great example of Lebanese architecture, which has Italianate, specifically Venetian, and Ottoman architectural influences.

O It was built as a private villa at the end of the 19th century by Nicolas Sursock, a member of one of Beirut's most prominent aristocratic families.

O According to his will, the villa was transformed into a museum and bequeathed to the city of Beirut.

O It displays the works of both Lebanese and international artists.

Architecture:  Beiteddine  Palace  O The palace was built by Emir Bashir Shihab II in the period between

1788 and 1818. O It was later used by both the Ottomans and the French before being

restored in 1934 by the General Directorate of Antiquities. O After independence in 1943, the palace became the summer residence

of the President of the Republic.

Cinema  Cinema  in  Lebanon  has  been  in  existence  since  the  

1920s,  and  the  country  has  produced  over  500  films.  Most  notably:  

O West Beirut by Ziad Doueiri (1998) O After Shave by Hany Tamba (2005) O Bosta by Philippe Aractingi (2005) O Caramel by Nadine Labaki (2007) O Where Do We Go Now? By Nadine Labaki

(2011)