On Thursday May 17, 2001, the Foundation prepared for the National Heritage Day a thematic exhibition, “The Tree”, which was held at the Science Museum/Planet Discovery, Beirut, from 17 to 24 May 2001. The program for this day included: guided visits to several museums and historical sites, a walk in the gardens of the Sisters of Besançon School, Sursock Palace as well as Saint Joseph School, and two exhibitions: “At the Encounter of Trees” and “ The Art, The Tree and the Heritage ”, in Downtown – Beirut.

The Foundation chose to focus attention on the Tree, maybe because, as Henri Guys said in “ Beirut and Lebanon” in 1847, on the top of the Lebanese mountains, there was a perfumed tree called “Leban” which gave Lebanon its name: “ Sur le haut Liban se trouve un arbre dont l’écorce est très odorante et que l’on appelle encore l’arbre à parfum, d’où vient peut-être le nom de Liban, la montagne à arbres de Leban ”.

The Tree: symbol of our heritage is a fundamental, constitutive element of our human, natural, historical, and cultural heritage.

The Tree is the “carpet of green” that covers our mountains and hills with beauty and brightness, and gives Lebanon its charm and splendor.

Our ancestors used it to build ships and travel around the world, architects used it to build temples, houses, cradles and graves. Crowns of victory were made from its branches.

The Foundation emphasized the role and importance of the tree throughout the life of people. It invited young Lebanese people to care for and preserve the medlar tree, the lemon and orange tree whose aromatic smell fills our coastal cities, the apple, cherry, peach, pear and almond trees, the biblical fig tree and the countless vineyards, the olive tree, symbol of purity and peace, the oak persistent and deep-rooted, the pine tree, the cypress tree and the thousand year old cedars, the symbol on the national flag and Lebanese currency.