The Old Lee Obervatory: The Beauty of AUB's Architecture   What is the most romantic setting on campus? This question might have more than a hundred answers, given by both students and professors, each of them depending on the individual's own taste and point of view. Those who have worked in the Lee Observatory all agree on one answer. "The aura surrounding this serene monument of science, pausing like a landmark, has always been so peaceful. It was conducive to meditation and was a meeting place of choice for students and lovers," wrote alumnus Saad Haddad describing the Observatory in a letter addressed to the editor of Al-Kulliyah in the spring of 1988. Moreover, Dr. Frans Bruin, one of the many directors of the Observatory, described it as "the most romantic building on campus." He explained, in an interview with Outlook back in 1963, that the Observatory gives such a romantic feeling "that is strongest in the evening when the sun sets and at night when the stars glitter." For these people and others who gave quality time, the Lee Observatory is the place to be. The Lee Observatory was first built in 1873 under the supervision of Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck, professor of medicine at the time and one of AUB's most dedicated pioneers. The building was named after Henry Lee, a wealthy British merchant from Manchester who donated 150 gold pounds to help finance the project. Although astronomy was only a hobby for Van Dyck, he nonetheless took it very seriously, publishing Arabic texts on general astronomy and practical astronomy through the American Mission Press. The Observatory was also used to record at stated intervals each day systematic meteorological observations which were sent with the approval of the Turkish authorities to the Imperial Meteorological Bureau in Vienna. Moreover, time measurements with reference to the stars were carried out once a week and ship captains used to come with their chronometers to the Observatory for adjustment. Only a year after its launching, the Observatory became the most important, if not the only operating institution of its kind in the Middle East. The equipment used in the Observatory was the property of Van Dyck himself, who purchased the equipment necessary from his income from Medicine. Upon his resignation in 1883 he donated most of the instruments to the University, and later the remainder were given by his son in 1903, after Van Dyck's death. Robert Haldane West, director of the Observatory from 1883 till 1906, was responsible for rebuilding the facility in 1891. The progress made in the field of astronomy was the main reason behind the need for expansion and upgrading, but most importantly it was the new 12-inch telescope that required the reconstruction. The telescope, built by Warner and Swasey of Cleveland, Ohio, makers of the Yerkes 40-inch equatorial, needed a wider space because nothing of its size had previously been seen in this region. The dome resulted from these renovations, and it was Von Heidenstein, a Swedish engineer at the Beirut Water Company, who devised its installation, which has proved satisfactory till this date. It should be noted that the telescope was mounted on a special structural pedestal isolated from the building's structure in order to protect the telescope from vibrations. The new Observatory was finally completed in 1894. It consisted of two offices, a small classroom, a transit room, a small workshop for repairs, and a dome, in addition to the garden where the meteorological instruments were installed. Around 1900 West introduced a Milne seismograph for registering earth tremors. However, problems appeared with the use of the new instrument, because the needle kept jumping out of range every time the tramway passed along Bliss Street. Other seismographs were later used, but were completely deteriorated after 1941. Alfred H. Joy succeeded West as director of the Observatory in 1906, and remained in his position till the beginning of WWI, when one of his assistants, an AUB graduate, Mansour Jurdak, took over and kept the Observatory alive and functioning. In 1910 Joy made a series of photographs of Haley's Comet with a 7-inch camera mounted on a telescope, a rare achievement, especially because the returns of the comet have been recorded worldwide 29 times since 240 BC. And by the end of WWI, the Observatory had won the confidence of the community and even Dar al-Fatwa depended on Jurdak and the telescope to record the birth of the moon in order for it to announce start of the holy month of Ramadan. But after the war its communal significance began to decline, and the Observatory was used primarily by science majors taking required astronomy courses. Several directors and assistants managed the Observatory in the years that followed, but it was Owen Gingerich who introduced a new element to the use of the facility: Observatory Open Nights, which became popular and attracted many from AUB and its surroundings. The Open Nights consisted of public lectures, a gallery of astronomical models and illuminated transparencies, and a display of all meteorological and other needed instruments. Everyone had a chance to take a close look at the driving mechanism which causes the telescope to slowly follow the stars as they cross the sky, and a closer look at the moon and the stars in question. Gingerich also updated the Observatory library and spent much of his time as director archiving the main journals and recordings and having them bound. And most importantly, he resumed the courses in astronomy, which had been discontinued since 1947 after Jurdak's retirement. The last director ever to be in charge of the Observatory was Frans Bruin, trained in physics and mathematics at the University of Amsterdam, who traced the history of the Lee Observatory from 1873 until it was closed under his supervision in 1979. The framed manuscript can be seen at the entrance of the building today. When astronomy teaching was discontinued for the second and last time in 1979, plans were made to turn the Observatory into an Arts and Sciences Conference Center. The interior was remodeled, thanks to donations made by the Lilly Foundation of New York, and it included a conference room with a blackboard and a projection screen, a lounge with a kitchenette, and a guestroom. No mention was made of the dome, which still shelters the 12-inch telescope. The center was to be used for local, regional, and international scholarly research-oriented gatherings. After the destruction of College Hall, it was turned into temporary office space consecutively for the History and Archaeology Department, the Arabic Department, and most recently, the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The dome area was used as a library and storage room respectively, while the telescope still stood in the middle, this time without its lenses, which had been stolen during the war. The building is now used by the newly launched Art Center, which is currently hosting an exhibition of AUB memorabilia and works of art. The Art Center will occupy the facility until June 2001, when the center is supposed to reactivate its original plans. At least, the building is still called the Arts and Sciences Conference Center, as the sign on the building's entrance shows. Sources: History of Observatory at AUB, paper by Frans Bruin, May 15, 1963. Al-Kulliyah, Summer Issue 1956 ,Autumn Issue 1963 ,Winter Issue 1987 ,Spring Issue 1988 Al-Kulliyah Supplement, Engineering Newsletter, Fall Issue 1993 AUB Today, April 1980, p.7 That They May Have Life, by Stephen B.L. Penrose, Jr, Beirut 1970 Sources are available in Jafet Library archives.