smithp500 posted a photo:
Entrance to the Beirut Souk, which although modelled on the footprint of the ancient lanes and alleys and using the old street names, is now a modern shopping mall, with designer label and modern chain stores. The old souk was severely damaged during the civil war but behind the modern sign is the Zwaiyat Ibn Arraq, the city’s only remaining Mamluk building built in 1517 as a hospice. It then became a zwaiya (an Islamic religious school) until late Ottoman times.
