- Title: Beirut museum hides priceless art amid fighting between Israel and Hezbollah
- Date: 5th November 2024
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (NOVEMBER 5, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF LEBANON'S SURSOCK MUSEUM STAFF MEMBER, MALEK ALSTEF PRESSING ON ELEVATOR BUTTON ALSTEF IN ELEVATOR ALSTEF AND COMMUNICATION OFFICER, MOHAMED CHOUCAIR, ENTERING ROOM WITH ART COLLECTION PLACED IN BASEMENT CHOUCAIR SHOWING ART WORK IN BASEMENT VARIOUS OF ART PIECES PLACED IN BASEMENT UNDER THE GROUND (SOUNDB
- Embargoed: 19th November 2024 13:12
- Keywords: Beirut Israel Lebanon Sursock museum art art collection artist conflict galleries museum war
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA001733005112024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The Sursock Museum, one of Lebanon’s few modern and contemporary art museums, sealed its main collection in the basement as clashes between Israel and Hezbollah intensified.
"That's when the pagers incident happened. The security concerns were getting a little bit too overwhelming with the sonic booms and risk of bombardment elsewhere. So we took down the collection to the basement where they're kept safely because of safety concerns," said museum’s communications officer Mohamed Choucair.
Opened in 1961, Sursock has weathered multiple crises, including Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990 and two subsequent closures in the 2000s.
The museum’s basement storage, built during a previous renovation, now has the capacity to house the entire collection to protect it from the threat of bombings.
Originally home to over 1,600 works of art, the museum’s walls now stand bare, their art labels marking empty spaces amid escalating threats of airstrikes in Beirut.
Choucair described the step they took as heartbreaking, adding "the sad thing about taking down the artworks is it's not the first time we've had to do it."
However, he felt hopeful to reopen as soon as possible, with plans for two exhibitions, a new restaurant, and public programs.
"The memory and the image that this museum in particular sends back to us, with all its content and richness and choice of art works, do not abandon us," said Lebanese painter and art teacher, Aurore Selwan.
The Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war, but hostilities have escalated over the last six weeks. More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them since late September, according to health authorities.
Lebanon's state news agency said on Tuesday (November 5) that it estimated Israeli air strikes and widespread detonation of homes had destroyed more than 40,000 housing units in the country's border region.
(Production: Emilie Madi) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None