In 1930, Martyrs' Square displayed the first commemorative sculpture in memory of Lebanese and Arab nationalists hanged during World War I at the orders of Ottoman military ruler Jamal Pasha. The artwork by Youssef Hoyek represented two women, a Muslim and a Christian, holding hands in a symbolic gesture over a coffin. In 1956, President Camille Chamoun laid the foundation stone of a monument conceived by architect Sami Abdel Baki.