We're in Ras Beirut for the third episode of The Beirut Banyan, and we're joined by Mona El Hallak.

Mona is best known for helping save and restore the 'Barakat Building' on the city's former Green Line. Today the building serves as a museum of Beirut's civil war and is better known by its current name, Beit Beirut.

Mona is more than an architect and an urban planner. She is an activist and a heritage enthusiast, and she's one of the city's foremost storytellers when it comes to the civil war. Mona is adamant that Beirut cannot heal properly without devoting communal space for reflection on the city's most violent years, and she works on initiatives ranging from photography exhibits to neighborhood community outreach to achieve that goal.

The first break begins at 28:38, where the conversation shifts from general urban planning history to Mona's intervention in helping save the 'Barakat Building'. The second break begins at 50:44, where Mona's career reaches local politics.

Beit Beirut's website is: http://www.beitbeirut.org

Make sure to check it out, and if you see Mona there you'll experience how she shares the building's story.

Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sarah Tarhini.