Nabu Museum, Jawad Adra: They Are the Real Revolutionaries
Nabu Museum Documents the Beginnings of Arab Journalism with Individual Initiatives to Conserve History
165 years have passed since Khalil Gabriel Alkhoury published the first Lebanese newspaper named “News Garden”. Lebanese pioneers played a major role as Arab journalism began spreading throughout the Arab world. This has been extensively documented in an exhibition by Nabu Museum that aimed to spread awareness on the topic and preserve the common Arab cultural heritage
The founders of Nabu Museum called to ‘save the heritage of the Arab Press from extinction, preserving it so that it remains in the hands of researchers”. The founders also stated that “without knowing our past and learning from it, we cannot step into the future”.
There have been many attempts to document the history of the Arab press, but despite all efforts, the number of Arabic newspapers and magazines around the world could not be accurately determined. Nabu Museum’s efforts in this exhibition are an ode to these efforts that go all the way back to the 19th century.
The exhibition showcased 400 newspapers and magazines from 1858 to 1930. Badr Al Haj’s collection of rare and limited Arabic language publications from around the world was extensively showcased alongside that of other private collectors. Badr Al Haj realized that there exists a genuine risk that this history might be lost forever. As such, he spent decades collecting these rare publications and organized “The Early Arab Press”.
“The Exhibition of Early Arab Press” showcases a curated collection of Arab newspapers and magazines dating from 1858 to 1930. These historical publications bear witness to the trailblazers of the Arab press who defied prevailing regimes, transcending political and social divides. They unveil the political realities and cultural struggles, providing insight into the social and cultural movements that journalism supported in its advocacy for freedom and justice. This is an effort forty years in the making.
The museum had shed light on many of these who contributed to the creation of Arab newspapers, such as Gibran Tueini the founder of “The Illustrated Liberal Journal” in 1926, and Mohammad Salah Al-deen who founded the comic newspaper “Al-Saadan” that was published first in 1912 in Tripoli — Damascus, as well as Saleem Al-Onsi, the owner of “Rawdat Al-Maaref” newspaper, who established in 1893 the first printing press in Beirut that used American letters.
Jawad Adra, one of the founders of “Nabu” museum, described Nabu Museum’s founders, during the opening of the exhibition, as “the creators of the age of enlightenment who left their profound impact on our language, thought, and renaissance.” He said, “The age of enlightenment, starting from the middle nineteenth century, had pioneers that new generations do not know. Pioneers who created the cultural, intellectual, linguistic, philosophical and scientific history of this region. They developed the Arabic language and focused on the importance of philosophy, science, literature and poetry, and called for the rejection of sectarianism and the resistance to tyranny and occupation. These were the real revolutionaries, and we have to be inspired by them to start a new cultural revolution.”
In an interview with “Asas Media” Jawad Adra called for “remembering the great efforts that launched a cultural revolution that crosses time and place, and being inspired by this journey to serve Lebanon, the region, and the future generations… Beirut is the capital of Arab media for the year 2023, and it was important to us that the exhibition includes all Arab countries.” Adra also assured that this exhibition is “the first of its kind in the region”, it allowed audience to visualize the course of history.
