International Association to Save Tyre | Tyre Foundation
Maha El-Khalil Chalabi

Maha El-Khalil Chalabi

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Welcome to our website.

Over the past four decades, I have had the honour to dedicate my passion for Tyre which is now part of the "Patrimony of Humanity". The International Association to Save Tyre, Tyre Foundation and the League of Cannanite, Phoenician and Punic Cities have been established in response to the serious threats to our heritage and to draw the attention of governments, international organisations and public opinion to the considerable importance, which the safeguarding of Tyre constitutes for humanity.

I am grateful for the past and continuous support from some of the world most prominent leaders, NobelPrize winners, international communities, members of

Maha

A native of Tyre, in South Lebanon, Dr. Maha El-Khalil Chalabi grew up surrounded by the prestigious vestiges of this ancient city, on which eight successive civilizations have laid their imprint.

For almost twenty years, Dr. Maha El-Khalil Chalabi has dedicated herself to making Tyre, that Mecca of history and art, better known to the public. She has graduated in Social Sciences at the French Faculty of Medicine in Beirut, and in Political Sciences at the Faculty of Law of Saint-Joseph University in Beirut.

In a Resolution dated 19th December 1979, the U.N. Security Council declared that Tyre formed part of the "Patrimony of Humanity" and that it was imperative that it be safeguarded.

In 1975, with the outbreak of war, the Festival was discontinued; Tyre and her subsoil, six thousand-year-old witnesses of greatness became the scene of violence and depredation. Fearful of the danger facing this archaeological site, Dr. Maha El-Khalil Chalabi alerted various international organizations and, in particular, UNESCO, the League of Arab States and the United Nations. At her insistence, and with the support of the Lebanese Ambassador to the United Nations, the Security Council included a paragraph in a Resolution dated 19th December 1979, declaring that Tyre formed part of the "Patrimony of Humanity" and that it was imperative that it be safeguarded.

Strengthened in her resolve by these decisions, emanating from the world's highest political body, Dr. Maha El-Khalil Chalabi decided, together with Lebanon's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, to create the