The National Museum of Beirut is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon, located at the edge of Achrafieh. The 5500 square meters site (relatively small for a museum) holds more than 100,000 historical pieces. Its impressive, magnificently displayed collection of archaeological artefacts offers a great overview of Lebanon’s history and the civilisations that impacted this cultural crossroads. Only 1,300 are exhibited for tourists and locals to see. The collection begun after World War I, and the museum was officially opened in 1942. The museum has collections totaling about 100,000 objects, most of which are antiquities and medieval finds from excavations undertaken by the Directorate General of Antiquities. About 1300 artifacts are exhibited, ranging in date from prehistoric times to the medieval Mamluk period.
During the 1975 Lebanese Civil War, the museum stood on the front line that separated the warring factions. The museum’s Egyptian Revival building and its collection suffered extensive damage in the war, but most of the artifacts were saved by last-minute preemptive measures.
Today, after a major renovation, the National Museum of Beirut has regained its former position and especially consisered as a leading collector for ancient Phoenician objects.
The story of the National Museum started in 1919 with a small group of ancient artifacts, which had been collected by Raymond Weill, a French officer stationed in Lebanon. These objects were displayed in one of the rooms of the German Deaconesses building in Georges Picot Street in Beirut. This exhibition hall served as a temporary museum.
Today the National Museum building consists of three floors: a basement, a ground floor and an upper gallery. A stair case and two elevators lead to the upper floor.
