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The Guinness World Records' "Largest Book in the World" was unveilled on Friday night at the UNESCO Palace in a ceremony sponsored by Culture Minister Tammam Salam. The book is an enlarged replica of Ayman Trawi's national best selling photography book "Beirut's Memory," which depicts the changing face of the capital between 1991 and 2002 through a collection of "before and after" photos of key downtown reconstruction sites. As the personal photographer of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Trawi felt a strong attachment to the reconstruction project, and wanted to ensure that recognition of Hariri's contribution to the city lives on. "When he died I was thinking about how I could do something in his memory, and about how he rebuilt Beirut," Trawi said.
The oversized book certainly magnifies the results of Hariri's project, with 304 pages that are 3.85 meters wide and 2.77 meters tall. Weighing in at 1,060 kilograms, it took three and a half months to print.
"Ayman came to us with his idea and we sent him our guidelines for creating a book large enough to break the world record," said Talal Omar, London-based Adjudication Executive of the Guinness World Records. "He loved his book and like this he made sure that it will live on forever," Omar added.
The last book to break the Guinness World Record was published in 1976 in Denver, Colorado, in the United States, under the title of "The Super Book," which measured 3.07 meters wide and 2.74 meters tall with 252.6 kilograms of weight spread over 300 pages. Trawi and his landmark book are set to travel to multiple destinations around the world in the upcoming year, with one of the first stops being at the Louvre museum in Paris, France. "This book is a cultural window [into Lebanon] ... like when you elect an ambassador to the world, it's something relative to that," stated Guinness World Records account manager Chantal Tohme. Tourism Ministry General Director Nada Sardouk saw the value of the book not so much in its size, but in its ability to spark interest in Lebanon by generating positive publicity for the country. "It's not only about the world's largest book, it's also about the reconstruction, and if that gets people talking about Beirut, that's good for us," she said. Holding onto one end of the measuring tape for a symbolic photo shoot with Omar, Trawi beamed with satisfaction at the level of local media interest in his accomplishment. Asked how he felt after breaking the world record, he proudly replied, "I feel I did my job for Lebanon ... and for Rafik Hariri." The book will be included in the 2010 Arabic edition of the Guinness World Records.
