Emir Maurice Chehab

Maurice Chéhab belonged to one of Lebanon's leading families and was for many years Director General of the country's Antiquities Service as well as being Professor of History and Archaeology. For almost thirty years he directed the restoration of the Crusader monuments in Lebanon and over a period of twenty-five years directed excavations at Tyre with the aim of uncovering material evidence to support contemporary documents, from both west and east, concerning the Crusades. It is disappointing that Chéhab never published an actual excavation report on his work at Tyre, devoting his energies instead to a comprehensive history of the site, and its sarcophagi. His 2-volume Tyr à l'epoque des Croisades appeared in 1975 and 1979, covering politics, war, religion and social and economic history. A projected third volume on sculpture and literature was never completed. The 3-volumes of Fouilles de Tyr: La Nécropole were published in 1983, 1984 and 1985. The year 1988 saw the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Tyre excavations, by which time Chéhab was running out of steam and it was perhaps time for him to relinquish his long reign (some thought it dictatorship) of more than half a century over Lebanese archaeology. He died on 22 December 1994.