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CEREMONIAL ACTIVITIES

The Lebanese National Commission celebrates outstanding events that are relevant to its line of activities. Also, it honors those Lebanese personalities who managed to secure international or regional recognition and who have contributed in a distinguished way to the good of the cultural life of their country.

The most important ceremonial events that took place over the last few years are the following:

  • On the occasion of awarding Mrs. Maya Husseini Ayoub the Unesco 3rd Crafts Prize 2005 for the Arab states during the creative crafts fair in Tunis in March 2005, the Lebanese National Commission for Unesco organized a ceremony, in the presence of its executive committee, to hand over the Unesco diploma to Mrs. Ayoub.

  • Lebanon on the "Memory of the World" register:
    On the occasion of the inscription of Lebanon for the first time on the "Memory of the world" register, the Lebanese national Commission for Unesco organized a press conference that was held under the patronage of the Minister of Culture Tarek Mitri and in presence, among others, of the Members of the Lebanese Committee "Memory of the World", Fouad Obeid, Ibrahim Kawkabani, Henri Zgheib, André Sader, Jeseph abou Nohra and Joseph Abou Rizk.
    The Secretary General of The Lebanese national commission for Unesco Salwa Saniora Baassiri underscored the fact that, by such an achievement, Lebanon assures its strong cultural presence on the international scene, manifested by a historical heritage a contemporary still authentic culture which is open to diversity, and highlights its major contribution to the shaping of the history of humanity.
    Mr. Fouad Obeid, Director General of the National Foundation of Archives drew the attention for the need to establish a register for the national memory and to have its proper institutional set up.
    In his turn, Dr. kawkabani, member of the Lebanese Committee of "Memory of the World Program" indicated that without the Phoenician alphabet which is the sound basis for all the world alphabets, the world would not have been where it is, referring to the file containing compiled documents of the "Evolution of the Phoenician alphabet". He also referred to the commemorative Stella of Nahr el - Kalb, which testifies to the different civilization that existed in Lebanon and which proves that Lebanon is a very old country and a cradle of civilizations that played a pivotal role in the development of humanity".
    Minister Mitri concluded by saying that we need as Lebanese to reinstate Lebanon's immeasurable value in our collective memory and that instead of always reflecting over a fragmented past based on the civil war, we can now look further back and realize a far deeper and common history that unities us all.
  • Award Ceremony for Associated Schools. On the occasion of EFA week 26 April 2005:

    On the occasion of the Education for all week, the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO organized at the UNESCO Palace and in cooperation with the UNESCO Beirut Office and under the patronage of H.E. M.P. Ms. Bahia Hariri, president of the parliamentarian educational and cultural committee, an award ceremony for students of associated schools, in recognition of their creative art work on the EFA subject .
    Officials, schools directors and coordinators of associated schools attended the ceremony .
    The jury attributed prizes and diplomas to winning schools and appreciation prizes to all the schools that participated in the activity .

    Drawings :
    1st Prize : Baalbeck Secondary Public School for girls
    2nd Prize : Rafic Hariri High School -Saida
    3rd Prize : Al-Ahliah School
    Cut out :
    1st Prize : Raml El Zarif Public Secondary mixed Schools
    2nd Prize : Sagesse High School -Ain Saadé
    3 rd Prize : Rawdat Al-Fayhaa School-Tripoli

    Textes :
    1st Prize : Nabatieh Public School for girls
    2nd Prize : Ahmad Al Rouwass complementary school
    3 rd Prize : International College

    Manual Work :
    3 Prizes ex aequo :
    - College Saint-Antoine-Hammana
    - Saint-Jean Baptiste complementary School
    - Safad School-Saïda

  • Laureate Ceremony for the best publicity film on " Lebanon … the civilization and the human being": 17 May 2003

    The Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO organized in collaboration with Zahret EI Ihsan school a laureate ceremony for the best publicity film on : "Lebanon … the civilization and the human being " .
    18 films around Lebanese heritage, customs and arts were casted, all of which were produced by students representing 14 schools out of the 42 associated schools network of UNESCO in Lebanon .
    The ceremony was held under the patronage of the Minister of Culture Mr. Ghazi El-Aridi in the presence of officials, educators, the jury members and the students and the parents thereof from the participating schools .
    The ceremony was concluded by awarding prizes to all participants as follows:

    - Participation prize was awarded to :
    Official school of Ras Beyrouth for girls
    Official school of Bchamoun
    Official school of Tripoli-Zahrieh
    International College

    - Acknowledgement prize was awarded to :
    International College
    Official school of Ramel El Zarif
    Saint-Antoine College-Hammana
    Rafik Hariri school -Saïda

    - Students' jury prize was awarded to :
    Official school of Saïda for girls :                      3rd Laureate
    Jamhour school:                                                  2nd Laureate
    International College:                                        1st Laureate

    - The Jury Prize was shared by :
    Lebanese Modern Institute-Fanar
    Rafik Hariri school -Saïda

    - The Grand Prizes :
    Omar Ben Khatab Makassed school:               3rd Laureate
    Achrafieh Official school for boys:                     2nd Laureate
    Zahret El Ihsan:                                                    1st Laureate

  • The Medal of "Joseph Zaarour" to the lexicographer Mr. Ahmed Chafic El-Khatib:
    7 March 2003 Beirut- Lebanon

    The Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO organized a ceremony in honor of the lexicographer Mr. Ahmed Chafic El-Khatib in collaboration with the librairie du Liban Editeurs and the school of Translation-Beirut-St Joseph University, under the auspices of H.E. the Prime Minister Mr. Rafic El-Hariri, represented by the minister of culture Dr. Ghassan Salameh.
    Representatives from the Arab language Academics of Jordan, Syria and Egypt in addition to the lexicographer Dr. André Clas from Montreal University in Canada gave speeches on the occasion where Mr. Al-Khatib received the "Joseph Zaarour" medal for the best work in lexicography and translation, in addition to commemorative plaque of the school of translation in St. Joseph University.
    The secretary general spoke on behalf of the Lebanese National Commission enumerating the qualifications of the lexicographer and his perseverance in elaborating numbers of lexicographies that contributed to introduce Arabic to the international fora as language of expression in the fields of sciences and knowledge, still mentioning that honoring Mr. El-Khatib intersects with the efforts that UNESCO accords to preserve language diversity, as a passage to culture diversity, by celebrating the international day for mother language.

  • "The third International Seminar of Small Historical Coastal Cities" :
    28 May 2001 Sidon- Lebanon

    On the occasion of "The Third International Seminar of Small Historical Coastal Cities" held in Sidon under the patronage of His Excellency the Prime Minister, Rafic Harriri, 72 students from the different associated schools (ASPnet Lebanon) were selected and trained to present four songs at the opening session.
    Ms. Hiba Kawas, the Lebanese Opera singer, composer, and conductor trained and directed the choir of the 72 students, who, in addition to the Lebanese anthem presented four songs, in Arabic, Latin, Italian and German, being the languages of the songs selected from the albums of the world famous composers, W. Gholmieh, Beethoven, Verdi and Carl Orff .

  • A reception in Honor of Sheikh Mohammad Fayad: 27 January 2001 Beirut- Lebanon

    On the occasion of awarding Sheikh Mohammad Fayad, the third UNESCO Crafts prize for the Arab States, a reception was organized in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the Crafts work in Lebanon. Deputies, senior officials and crafts work associations were present.
  • A Ceremony in honor of deputy Mrs Bahiya Hariri, for being granted the title of UNESCO Ambassador for Good Will: 25 November 2000 Beirut-Lebanon

On the occasion of the nomination of Mrs. Bahiya Hariri as UNESCO Ambassador for Good Will, LNCU organized a special ceremony, in cooperation with the National Commission for Public Schools. Lebanese members of Parliament, ministers, officials, diplomats, and members of cultural associations and various NGOs were present.

  • A Ceremony in honor of Prof. Constantine Zreik: 23 April 1999 Beirut-Lebanon

    A big ceremony was organized , in cooperation with Alecso, to award Prof. Zreik " The Arab Culture Prize". Presidents and faculty members of the various Lebanese Universities, scholars, authors, publishers, diplomats and various NGOs representatives participated in the event.
  • A musical concert for peace in cooperation with the Japanese TV :
    27 January 1999 Beirut-Lebanon
 

Ten Japanese Students, escorted by four TV professionals, visited Lebanon in January 1999 especially for a concert performed by Lebanese and Japanese Students who sang together the HYMN of PEACE (a Lebanese song that was awarded the first prize in the world in 1995 in an international event organized by Japan).

Falling also within the context of Cultural exchange, the Japanese students were hosted by Lebanese families. In return, the Lebanese students who participated in the event were invited to Hiroshima in April 1999 to join students from all over the world to hold an international festival.

It was an ideal occasion for the Lebanese students to get to know about other cultures, which was the main objective of the whole event.