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by bytheeast.com -Tina Abou Riz- Beit Beirut before the renovation. Lebanon represented the Arab world’s cultural hub, through its various “annual arts festivals and vibrant gallery scene”. However, in recent times, due to the country’s economic instability, coupled with political upheaval and a lack in state funds to support arts, Lebanon was left behind in this field. As Lebanese cultural heritage gathered dust behind closed doors while others like the UAE flourished with “state-funded museums” with the affiliation to “world-class institutions”, namely “Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi”. These architectural and arts centres have beckoned tourists from across the globe. However, changing times are upon Lebanon, as recently Beirut city has seen several museums being inaugurated, refurbished or re-opened, while the plans of building “four art and archaeological museums set” in the coming five years is signal towards a “new phase in Lebanon’s cultural development” to revive Lebanese cultural heritage. Lebanon has winessed significant excavation expeditions all over the country, whereby reinforcing its “archaeological richness”. The National Museum of the country, based in Beirut, complements the small ones present in the excavation sites. The former features “a large collection of priceless artefacts” obtained from all over the country which ranges from “prehistory to the end of the Ottoman Empire” time frame. After a spell of forty years, in 2016, the locked doors of the National Museum re-opened whereby leading the visitors to its basement. The government of Italy had provided a grant of “€1.2 million” for the refurbishing cost. Among the artefacts displayed in the basement are “funerary art that includes a human tooth dating back 250,000 years, unique 7,000-year-old Phoenician marble sarcophagi and 13th century mummies from the Qadisha Valley”.

Furthermore, there are plans of expanding the museum to house “temporary exhibitions and workshops” space besides a cafe area. With the expanding Lebanese cultural heritage drive through various projects, private and state initiatives are coming together in the country. The “Lebanese Heritage Foundation”, a charitable organisation has taken up the responsibility of “raising funds”. Taking the Lebanese cultural heritage revival drive forward, Beirut History Museum too is set to open in the coming five years. This museum also holds “major archaeological” assets which will be displayed in “a glass building designed by the Pritzker-prize winning Italian architect Renzo Piano”. Besides exhibiting the archaeological richness of Lebanon, the new museum will have the task of recounting “the history of Beirut across the centuries”. The building, thus designed by Piano, will be enclosed within an “archaeological garden”, while Khoury added: “It is glass so that it doesn’t close the view from Martyr’s Square to the Petit Serail, down to the sea”.