Yvonne Sursock .. The departure of the lady of the palace

Yvonne is the only daughter of Alfred Sursock, one of Lebanon’s notables, and his Italian wife, Donna Maria Teresa, and her father had the upper hand in founding the National Museum, the Horse Racing Club and the Flying Club, and in charity work and even in art, as he liked to paint … The late journalist Samir Kassir recounts in his book The “History of Beirut”, according to Yvonne’s father, was one of the most prominent faces of that time. He was the first to marry a foreigner, after a first meeting with his Italian father during a great party that was held in one of the palaces in the Doc Dimitri neighborhood of Russia. Alfred was also the first to bring a car to Lebanon, as horse-drawn carriages were prevalent at that time. Thus he presented to his Italian wife, Donmaria, a gift car from a Panhard et levassor, which an Italian driver was driving to the lady of the palace.

Yvonne’s father died four years after she was born, and her mother enrolled her in Our Lady of Nazareth School, where she obtained her BA, Department of Philosophy, then enrolled in the College of Arts. During that period, according to Hayek, she met Habib Trad, the guardian the family had chosen for her after her father’s death. It is true that her visits were few to her house, “because the house is like a refrigerator, and there is no chauffage,” she laughs, but that night in 1946, she put on a thick coat and gloves, and went home to. There she met English Army Volunteer Sir Desmond Cochrane, who would become her husband that same year.

In his career, he was surprised by what the war had done to traditional and traditional buildings. He founded the Association for the Protection of Natural Sites and Ancient Buildings “Epsad” in Lebanon and served as president from 1960 to 2002. On National Heritage Day each year, Yvonne Cockeren opened the doors of her palace to visitors, to that they could see who Close to its historical and artistic characteristics. Sursock Palace is one of the oldest heritage buildings in Beirut and is known as the “Lady Cockren Palace”. It is an independent museum with rare historical artifacts dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Lady Cockren, who is known by that name because she was married to an Irishman, has preserved what she inherited with all the power she had. It is a legacy that weighs heavily on its owner due to the monitoring required for the maintenance of antiques and paintings and the requirements for their rehabilitation. However, she is trying to preserve all that remains of the old houses of the region in particular and of Lebanon in general.

She used to say: “I try to preserve the spirit of the village in Lebanon. In Ras Beirut, the relationship between the children, who are from two different sects (Sunni and Orthodox), was like a kinship relationship. The rich saw each other. forced to help the poor or be rejected. From here, the Sursock family donated a building to the Archdiocese and established the Mar Church. ” Nicola and they built the Roum Hospital as they built the Zahrat Al-Ihsan school, and regrets the government’s policy that decided to turn Sursock residential street into a commercial street, adding: “My mother refused to cut the house to widen the street. and he opposed all decisions made in this regard. While other homes have been victims of that road or other investment projects. As in the case of Linda Sursock’s house, whose front facade was amputated by the road, while someone was trying to build a tower in her garden, we strongly objected and stopped the project.

Yvonne headed the Sursock Museum committee from 1960 to 1966 and played a vital role in its development in its early years.