The culture of Lebanon and the Lebanese people emerged from various civilizations over thousands of years. It was home to the Phoenicians and was subsequently conquered and occupied by the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks and the French. This variety is reflected in Lebanon's diverse population, composed of different religious groups, and features in the country's festivals, literature, artifacts, cuisine and architecture of Lebanon. Tourism in Lebanon is popular with periods of interruption during conflict. The Maronite Catholic and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate. Despite the religious and denominational diversity of the Lebanese, they "share an almost common culture". Based on Article 11 of the Constitution of Lebanon states: "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The spoken Lebanese is the dialect used in public which is a hybrid of the languages of the above-mentioned cultures. Culinary and literature are deep-rooted "in wider Mediterranean and Levantine norms". The hilly Mediterranean Geography of Lebanon has played a role in shaping the history of Lebanon and its culture. Archaeology of Lebanon is conducted to explore the area's past. Arts By the turn of the 20th century, Beirut was vying with Cairo to be the major centre for Near Eastern and Middle Eastern thought, with many newspapers, magazines and literary societies. Additionally, Beirut became a thriving epicenter of Armenian culture with varied productions that was exported to the Armenian diaspora. Visual arts Daoud Corm (1852-1930), Habib Serour (1860-1938) and Khalil Saleeby (1870-1928) are considered the first successful professional studio artists in Lebanon, with careers extending to Europe. All were trained outside Lebanon, with Corm and Serour attending Roman academies and Saleeby British and American ones. They were known for portraiture of Lebanese high society and men of religion, as well as Christian sacred art in the case of Corm and Serour. Mustafa Farroukh (1901-1957) was one of Lebanon's most important painters between the 1920s and the 1950s. Formally trained in Rome and Paris, he exhibited in venues from Paris to New York to Beirut over his career. Farid Mansour (1929-2010) was a Lebanese multi-talented painter and sculptor . Being trained in Italy and England, Mansour mastered several painting and sculpting techniques.