THREAD: Beirut's Holiday Inn as a liminal space

What is a liminal space?

The word liminal comes from the Latin root “limen,” which means “threshold.” A liminal space represents a transition between two states of being. It is the time between “what was” and the “next.” It is a place of disorientation, waiting, and not knowing.

An example of liminality is a student who has finished writing their last exam. Although they are "done" with school, they have yet to officially graduate. While waiting for their graduation ceremony, they go through a loss of identity: they are neither student nor graduated.

Holiday Inn isn't only a liminal space because it's no longer a hotel, but because its existence is a reminder of war in a place that never entered a post-war phase. It being empty is a reminder that the war ended, but the inability to take it down means the past still persists.

Liminal spaces have combined feelings of eeriness, nostalgia, and apprehension. The unsettling aspect comes in because they once performed a role and had people in them. Once the space is abandoned, the lights are out forever, and it remains as a shell of its former self.

It can perhaps be argued that Lebanon itself is a liminal space. Past glories and nostalgia, despite the fact they persist, are long gone, but the future has yet to arrive. And there seems to be a consensus among many, regardless of ideology, that this is a transitional phase.