Quick Facts
Biography
Viscount Philippe de Tarrazi (28 April 1865 - 7 August 1956), was a Lebanese polymath, Philanthropist, founder of the National Library of Lebanon and a founding member of the Arab Academy of Damascus.
Biography
Philippe was born in Beirut on 28 April 1865 to a renowned Syriac Catholic merchant family which have recently emigrated from Aleppo. His father was given the honorary title viscount by Pope Leo XIII, which he later held.
He studied at the patriarchal school and later the Jesuit college. Philippe showed interest in Syriac, Arabic and French literature and authored around 57 books on these languages only 25 of them were published. He was also known for helping victims of the First World War.
De Tarrazi was active in Lebanese Phoenicianist cultural circles and was also close to the Assyrian/Syrian nationalist Naum Faiq.