Saifi Village is an upscale residential neighborhood in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Saifi Village is located at the southeastern periphery of Centre Ville. The village is bordered by Rue Charles Debbas to the south, Rue George Haddad to the east, Rue Gouraud to the north and Rue Ariss & Kanaani to the west. Its location is at the beginning of the former Green Line, which was the main frontline in Beirut during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

. The neighborhood was completely destroyed during the

. However, private company Solidere has rebuilt the neighbourhood in a vernacular style that seeks to be somehow reminiscent of French colonial buildings. It was initially planned by French architect François Spoerry, and includes buildings by prominent Lebanese architects such as Nabil Gholam. Saifi Village is an example of a

New Urbanist New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually in ...

-style neighborhood with cobblestone streets, apartment buildings, townhouses and shops. The shops range from a combination of designer shops to car dealerships such as

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

. It is also the home of a few art galleries and new uprising Lebanese designer shops, including Bokja Design, Nada Debs, and Vick Vanlian Gallery. The village also includes gardens that are filled with seasonal shrubs, flowers, and trees. It is also a place for family gatherings due to the presence of children playgrounds and wooden benches and fountains for the full park experience. Extensive deployment of private security is here, however, a serious deterrent for undesired lower-income families and visitors as in other Solidere-managed development projects such as Zaytounay Bay.Beirut Things To Do - Travel Guides - VirtualTourist.com
/ref> Though, most recently, as of 2023, the area has seen a commercial revival in which many upper-end restaurants, coffee shops, and bars have opened. Examples of such include ROFF, Dupain, Maryool, Paname, Meat The Fish, Backburner, Malibou, Base Coffee, Vicoli, Julienne aux Vieux Quartier, BUCO, and Villa Clara.

Demographics

In 2014,

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

made up 92.52% and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

made up 5.39% of registered voters in Saifi. 30.10% of the voters were Maronite Catholics, 25.46% were

Greek Catholics Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

, 17.79% were

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

, 5.61% were Armenian Orthodox and 5.46% were Armenian Catholics.https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/بيروت/بيروت-الأولى/الصيفي/المذاهب/

Gallery

File:Passing Beirut.jpg File:Beirut 004.jpg File:Beirut 002.jpg

References

Tourist attractions in Beirut Neighbourhoods of Beirut New Urbanism communities Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Lebanon Armenian communities in Lebanon {{Neighbourhoods of Beirut