An unfinished masterpiece by a legendary architect, Tripoli International Fair stands as a symbol of Lebanon’s decaying cultural heritage resulting from civil war and a lack of funding.
Designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1963, the 15-structure cutting-edge fair was supposed to be a beacon of modernist architecture in Lebanon, a country advocating modernism, freedom, culture and art in the middle east.
The design is a brutalist reinterpretation of Islamic architecture elements such as the arch and the dome, where buildings are a representation of pure geometric forms; The circular auditorium, the pavilion with its neat arches..
Today, its decaying state constitutes half its charm, projecting Lebanon’s unfulfilled dreams and ambitions in architectural forms.