A trip to the National Museum of Beirut: where most ancient cultures are collected in one place
The National museum of Beirut is located in the capital Beirut, on the outskirt of Achrafieh, and is Beirut’s main cultural institution. It was first opened in 1943, but due to war it was damaged and closed in 1975 and it was reopened to the public again in 1999. The museum is open from 9 a.m till 5 p.m and it closes on Mondays. The entrance fee is LBP5,000 and students are free of charge.
The idea of visiting the National museum was very exciting and I was looking forward to it. When we first entered, we felt like it was empty with not enough artifacts but watching the short documentary and walking in, we explored the three floors that had different monuments collected from different places.
When you first enter the museum, a 12 minutes documentary is screened in the audiovisual room s every hour. It shows everything about the museum, how curators saved the museum’s collection during the civil war and subsequently restored it to its former glory. It only showed what was there, without any voice-over for further explanation. I think that the documentary was too old and needs an update.
Tourists from different countries were enjoying the museum as were some kids from a school field trip who were exploring it. There wasn’t a tour guide to explain anything of this vast history to anyone.
It’s nicer starting your visit on the upper floor as this gives you an overview of the sweep of Lebanese history. The collection of Bronze Age artifacts here is of extraordinary quality: as well as the Byblos figurines, admire the obsidian, gold chests, and Egyptian gold pectorals found in the same place, and the exquisite ivory make-up boxes from Saida. It also includes an extraordinary Attic drinking vessel in the shape of a pig’s head; a marble head of Bacchus from the Roman period; and a magnificent collection of Phoenician glass.
On the ground floor, some excellent Byzantine mosaics are notable, as well as two wonderful carved sarcophagi from Tyre dating from the 2nd century AD: one depicts drunken cupids and the other the legend of Achilles. In addition, there are Phoenician statues of baby boys these statues were commissioned by aristocrats from Saida to Echmoun, the Phoenician god of healing, to thank him for saving their children.
The wonderfully displayed collection of archaeological artefacts offers a great overview of Lebanon’s history and the civilisations that impacted our culture. It includes the Phoenician gilded bronze figurines found buried near the Obelisk Temple at Byblos; a series of human-faced Phoenician sarcophagi and a frescoed Roman tomb, these latter in the outstanding basement, reopened in 2016.
The atmospheric and beautifully presented basement is a standout, holding the eerie series of human faced sarcophagi from Saida as well as an intriguing reconstruction of a 2nd-century AD collective tomb from Tyre, with wall paintings depicting mythological scenes. Much earlier Chalcolithic pot burials are also interesting, while three evocatively mummified bodies and perfectly preserved clothing tell a poignant 13th-century story. Perhaps fleeing from the Crusader wars, they died in a Qadisha Valley cave still clutching the title deeds to their land, foreshadowing a story repeated in refugee camps across Lebanon today.
It is a great place for tourists and children to visit so that they get to know more about the Lebanese history before all the kinds of war it went through. However, the museum has statues of different cultures that may misguide and make visitors lost. There is no detailed information underneath any of the displayed monuments which keeps visitors with pictures and no new knowledge.
I recommend students to pay our national museum a visit because it is always interesting to know about our ancients and know how civilisations were built but before considering the visit, a brief research should be done to be able to know everything since no one will be there explaining much.