The modern face of Beirut hides the city’s long architectural and urban history. Recent archaeological excavations, generated by the post-civil war reconstruction, have provided further evidence that different civilizations have continuously inhabited the city since at least the Iron Age. Hardly any architectural landmarks remain from before the 19th century, with the exception of some religious buildings. Beirut remained a secondary settlement to other cities along the eastern Mediterranean coast, such as Tripoli and Damascus until 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, in his failed insurrection against the Ottomans, took it as a base, and attracted merchants and consuls. Since then, the city has grown from a town of 10,000 to a metropolitan district of about 1.5 million today. The early years of growth were supported by many Ottoman modernization projects, conducted mostly through concessions to European companies. These included harbor expansion, public utilities, military facilities, ...