National Museum of Beirut
The facade of the National Museum of Beirut | |
| Established | 1937 |
|---|---|
| Location | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Coordinates | 33°52′42″N 35°30′54″E / 33.878384°N 35.514959°E |
| Type | Archaeological |
| Visitors | 40,211 (2009) |
| Director | Anne-Marie Ofeish |
The National Museum of Beirut (Arabic: متحف بيروت الوطنيّ, Matḥaf Bayrūt al-waṭanī) is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. 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.
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, with about 1,300 artifacts exhibited ranging in date from prehistoric times to the medieval Mamluk period.