To the uninitiated, thoughts of Lebanon conjure up images of conflict and the scarred landscape of war-torn Beirut. Yet there is more to the country than the strife of its recent past as Lebanon is a land of many cultures and hidden charms, infused with the heady scents of the Mediterranean and the Orient. Reconstruction work in Beirut has revealed layer upon layer of archaeological treasures; in the same way the country as a whole is overlaid with the marks of many seams of a varied and colourful history, and is privileged with a wealth of monuments and eclectic architectural styles.

Moreover, a renewed Lebanon can draw upon many natural attributes, such as a Mediterranean coastline, craggy mountains, the famous cedar forests, wide expansive valleys, fertile plains, not least its tenacious peoples.

Lebanon is sensitively illustrated here in a celebration of this country; with heartfelt, poetic text, carefully translated from the French, the foreword by Salah Stétié creates evocative and informative word-pictures, which are accompanied by a rich array of photographs, opening up the country once more to Western eyes.