The Bourj-Hammoud district in Lebanon is the geographical extension of Beirut City along the Mediterranean coastline, housing a population roughly estimated at 90,000 persons, extending over an area of 0.96 square-mile. Until early last century, it was marshlands, with scattered individual settlements. After 1928, Armenian refugees who had survived the Ottoman persecutions started settling in the
area, in compact quarters organized in regular gridiron patterns, each populated by natives from a village in their original homeland, which gave its name to each new quarter such as Marash, Nor-Adana, Nor-Sis. The district became a safe haven for Armenians who were forced to leave their homeland and subsequently converged in this one square mile territory and created a home away from home. In mid 1940's part of the population migrated to Armenia, followed by the influx of migrants from remote rural areas, attracted by employment opportunities in and around the capital. My parents, both survivors of 1915 Ottoman exodus met and were married in Damascus, Syria, only then to relocate their family to Bourj Hammoud in 1949. During the course of 15- year civil war, most Armenian inhabitants of Bourj Hammoud emigrated abroad and others moved out of the quarter to better their social ranking. For more than 50 years this tiny enclave was the cultural and intellectual beacon of Armenians worldwide. Today, like many dwindling Christian minorities across the Middle East, Bourj Hammoud struggles to retain its Armenian character against the tide of political uncertainty engulfing the region.
