Moussa Sursock Mausoleum, Mar Mitr Cemetery
Mausoleum of the Moussa Sursock family.
Moussa Surosck is one of the seven sons and heirs of Dimitri Sursock the founder of the "Sursok and Brothers", a prominent firm in nineteenth century Beirut which acted as an agent for Lascaridi and Company in the 1850s and 1860s and shipped grain to London, Cyprus and elsewhere. The firm was managed by his seven sons after his death: Nicholas, Khalil, Moussa, Ibrahim, Joseph and George.
Moussa Sursock's family returned to Beirut from Egypt upon his wife's insistence for economic and personal reasons. Between 1887 when Moussa died and 1890 when his will went into effect, his share of the Sursock family was divided amongst his brothers, nephews, wife, three sons and five daughters. His inheritance included extensive real estates in and around Beirut, Mersine (Adana, Turkey), Tartus (Syria) and Alexandria (Egypt). He also passed on extensive rural holdings including whole villages in Egypt and Palestine, property in Mount Lebanon and a house that would become the fashionable resort of Sofar in Mount Lebanon.
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The Sursok family whose origins can be traced back to Mersine, near Adana in modern-day Turkey, was originally a tax farming family in the service of the Ottomans. The Sursoks acquired miri/state land as a reward for their services to the Ottoman Empire and hence relocated to the Lebanese village of Barbara, near Byblos/Jbeil in the seveteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the family became engaged in Beirut's emerging trade and service sectors. The family's wealth and mercantile activities were noted by the Egyptian forces in control of Beirut and Mount Lebanon between 1830 and 1840. The Sursoks soon became protégés and dragomen to several European and American consul-generals.
The seven brothers and their sons are reported to have travelled on Greek and Russian passports as well as gained protégé status with other European consulates in Beirut.
In the 1850s and 1860s, the Sursok brothers engaged in banking in Egypt and invested large sums in the Suez Canal Company, the Beirut-Damascus road company and the port company in Beirut. The Sursoks were closely related with the Egyptian monarchy and gained preferential deals on the large infrastructural and extravagant public works undertaken by Khedive Sa`id (1854-1863) and Khedive Isma`il (1863-1879).
In short, the Sursoks were a prominent mercantile family which had become "the most spectacular social climb in the 19th century Levant". The Sursoks were readily admitted into Ottoman, Egyptian and European high societies and were part of an international bourgeoisie tat circulated amid Alexandria, Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Paris and Rome. They were to become one of the "Seven Families" which constituted "the cream of Beirut's merchant nobility."
Recent documents have revealed that the Sursoks were absentee landlords in the vast Marj Ibn `Amer (Jezreel Valley) in Northern Palestine. In 1929, under the British Mandate, the Sursoks sold the valley to the rich European Jewish investor, Baron Rothschild. The European dynasty of of German Jewish origin that established European banking and finance houses from the late eighteenth century had established a fund to buy land in Palestine and encourage the immigration of Jews to Palestine. Their condition: the forced evacuation of Marj Ibn Amer's Palestinian population. The Sursoks readily obliged forcing the peasantry in the valley to evacuate it.
Many of the Sursoks have since lived in Europe although some continue to live in Beirut.
Moussa Sursock Mausoleum, Mar Mitr Cemetery
Mausoleum of the Moussa Sursock family.
Moussa Surosck is one of the seven sons and heirs of Dimitri Sursock the founder of the "Sursok and Brothers", a prominent firm in nineteenth century Beirut which acted as an agent for Lascaridi and Company in the 1850s and 1860s and shipped grain to London, Cyprus and elsewhere. The firm was managed by his seven sons after his death: Nicholas, Khalil, Moussa, Ibrahim, Joseph and George.
Moussa Sursock's family returned to Beirut from Egypt upon his wife's insistence for economic and personal reasons. Between 1887 when Moussa died and 1890 when his will went into effect, his share of the Sursock family was divided amongst his brothers, nephews, wife, three sons and five daughters. His inheritance included extensive real estates in and around Beirut, Mersine (Adana, Turkey), Tartus (Syria) and Alexandria (Egypt). He also passed on extensive rural holdings including whole villages in Egypt and Palestine, property in Mount Lebanon and a house that would become the fashionable resort of Sofar in Mount Lebanon.
***************
The Sursok family whose origins can be traced back to Mersine, near Adana in modern-day Turkey, was originally a tax farming family in the service of the Ottomans. The Sursoks acquired miri/state land as a reward for their services to the Ottoman Empire and hence relocated to the Lebanese village of Barbara, near Byblos/Jbeil in the seveteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the family became engaged in Beirut's emerging trade and service sectors. The family's wealth and mercantile activities were noted by the Egyptian forces in control of Beirut and Mount Lebanon between 1830 and 1840. The Sursoks soon became protégés and dragomen to several European and American consul-generals.
The seven brothers and their sons are reported to have travelled on Greek and Russian passports as well as gained protégé status with other European consulates in Beirut.
In the 1850s and 1860s, the Sursok brothers engaged in banking in Egypt and invested large sums in the Suez Canal Company, the Beirut-Damascus road company and the port company in Beirut. The Sursoks were closely related with the Egyptian monarchy and gained preferential deals on the large infrastructural and extravagant public works undertaken by Khedive Sa`id (1854-1863) and Khedive Isma`il (1863-1879).
In short, the Sursoks were a prominent mercantile family which had become "the most spectacular social climb in the 19th century Levant". The Sursoks were readily admitted into Ottoman, Egyptian and European high societies and were part of an international bourgeoisie tat circulated amid Alexandria, Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Paris and Rome. They were to become one of the "Seven Families" which constituted "the cream of Beirut's merchant nobility."
Recent documents have revealed that the Sursoks were absentee landlords in the vast Marj Ibn `Amer (Jezreel Valley) in Northern Palestine. In 1929, under the British Mandate, the Sursoks sold the valley to the rich European Jewish investor, Baron Rothschild. The European dynasty of of German Jewish origin that established European banking and finance houses from the late eighteenth century had established a fund to buy land in Palestine and encourage the immigration of Jews to Palestine. Their condition: the forced evacuation of Marj Ibn Amer's Palestinian population. The Sursoks readily obliged forcing the peasantry in the valley to evacuate it.
Many of the Sursoks have since lived in Europe although some continue to live in Beirut.