Guides
Sarah Tarhini

9 Remarkable Museums Around Lebanon

Lebanon’s cultural landscape is showcased through its beautiful museums, displaying the country’s rich heritage and culture. Here is a compilation of local museums that will definitely satisfy your intellectual and aesthetic thirst.


1. AUB Archaeological Museum


The AUB Archaeological Museum, founded in 1868, is one of the oldest museums in the Middle East. This museum holds collections of flint, currencies, mosaics, and prehistoric pieces that were curated from seven countries: Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and Iran.


2. Mim Museum


Collected by the passionate Mr. Salim Edde since 1997, Mim is a private mineral museum in Beirut holding one of the world’s most thrilling collections of minerals, both for the variety and quality of its timeless pieces. It exhibits more than 1800 minerals, showcasing almost 400 different species from over 70 countries.


3. Sursock Museum


A true architectural wonder in the heart of Ashrafieh for the late aristocrat Nicoles Sursock, the Sursock Museum holds an extensive collection of modern and contemporary artworks and hosts compelling art and photography exhibitions. The building itself is a masterpiece, with its extravagant mix of Venetian and Ottoman architecture.


4. The National Museum


Holding valuable archeological discoveries, the National Museum is Lebanon’s main archeology museum and one of the richest in Middle East. Its massive collection of ancient artifacts and antiquities ranges from prehistory to 19th century.


5. Gibran Museum


Gibran Khalil Gibran’s legacy lives on at his museum in Bcharre, North Lebanon. This historic tribute carved in stone houses the contents of Gibran’s New York studio, his private library, manuscripts, and about 440 original and restored paintings.


6. Banque du Liban Museum


With the stories of local and foreign currencies, the museum encapsulates a rich history of the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Islamic, and Crusaders periods. It exhibits even rare and valuable ancient banknotes and coins.


7. Atelier Assaf


Hidden in a botanical garden, the museum showcases the sculptural works of the Assaf brothers. Portraying their appreciation of ratios, dimensions, and the aesthetic standards of architecture and artistic sculpturing, the museum entails a variety of visual art work, stone and bronze statues, sculptures, reliefs, and carvings.


8. Beiteddine Palace Museum


The magnificent Ottoman Beiteddine Palace is a museum housing a collection of historic Byzantine mosaics. The architecture of this well-preserved gem tells a story on its own.


9. Byblos Wax Museum


The museum pays a tribute to Lebanese history through wax. Gibran Khalil Gibran, Bechara El Khoury, and other wax statues all from the Phoenician era to the modern age reside at the Byblos Wax Museum.