Wednesday, March 4
Largest Book in the World Record
The Guinness World Records' "Largest Book
in the World" was unveilled on Friday night at the UNESCO Palace in a
ceremony sponsored by Culture Minister Tammam Salam. The book is an
enlarged replica of Ayman Trawi's national best selling photography book
"Beirut's Memory," which depicts the changing face of the capital
between 1991 and 2002 through a collection of "before and after" photos
of key downtown reconstruction sites.
As the personal photographer
of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Trawi felt a strong attachment
to the reconstruction project, and wanted to ensure that recognition of
Hariri's contribution to the city lives on. "When he died I was
thinking about how I could do something in his memory, and about how he
rebuilt Beirut," Trawi said.
The
oversized book certainly magnifies the results of Hariri's project,
with 304 pages that are 3.85 meters wide and 2.77 meters tall. Weighing
in at 1,060 kilograms, it took three and a half months to print.