In 1991, Gabriele Basilico and Fouad Elkoury were part of a group of six international photographers on a mission to Beirut city centre at the end of the Lebanon war. Beirut was put on the international photography map thanks to these pictures. In 2008, Fouad Elkoury proposed a new mission. With Beirut going through a unique period of change, it was essential to document the urban development by producing a photographic archive of quality, revealing the mission of Beirut itself as "one of the world's most complex, legendary, ever-vibrant, ever-troubled cities." Four photographers were selected to compile Beirut Mission, according to complementarities in their approach and experience. Fouad Elkoury and Klavdij Sluban were invited in 2009 and again in 2010; Robert Polidori came in 2010, and Gabriele Basilico in 2011.