Sursock Museum

History

In 1912, the Lebanese aristocrat Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock built the private villa that now houses the museum. He decreed in his will that the villa be transformed into a museum. When he died in 1952, he bequeathed the villa to the city of Beirut. Between 1953 and 1957, President Camille Chamoun transformed the villa into a palais des hôtes—a presidential guesthouse designated to accommodate visiting heads of state, including the Shah of Iran and King Faisal of Iraq.

The museum opened in 1961, directed by Amine Beyhum, with an exhibit of works of contemporary Lebanese artists, setting a precedent for cultural events in Beirut.

The Sursock Museum building exemplifies Lebanese architecture, with its Italianate (specifically Venetian) and Ottoman architectural influences. It is one of the few remaining villas from its epoch in Beirut. It is located in the Rue Sursock in the Rmeil district of Beirut.

More than a hundred exhibitions have been held at the museum, including displays of works by Lebanese and international artists. The museum's permanent collection includes modern art, Japanese engravings and Islamic art. The museum collection consists of over 800 artworks, including paintings, sculptures and graphic arts from the 19th and 20th centuries.

On 4 August 2020, the museum sustained significant damage and some of its artworks were destroyed as a result of a catastrophic ammonium nitrate explosion.

The museum was restored thanks to various donors among them the Italian government with a donation of one million euro in May 2021. It finally reopened on 26 May 2023. During the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, UNESCO gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon including the museum to safeguard it from damage.

Expansion

The museum was expanded with four new underground floors beneath the current garden, at a cost of US$12 million. French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Lebanese architect Jacques Abou Khaled designed the expansion project.

The project increased the museum's area from 1,500 square meters to 8,500 square meters and opened additional exhibition spaces, a research library, an auditorium, a restoration workshop, new storage spaces for the collection, as well as a store and restaurant. The museum reopened on 8 October 2015.

Collection

The following is a list of Lebanese and international artists whose works are in the museum's permanent collection:

• Chafic Abboud
• Rafic Charaf
• Saloua Raouda Choucair
• Kees van Dongen
• Paul Guiragossian
• Mamdouh Kashlan
• Hussein Madi
• Omar Onsi
• Mohammad Rawas
• Aref Rayess
• Nadia Saikali
• Jean-Marc Nahas
• Juliana Seraphim

Exhibition history

• Hommage à Jean Khalife, 1993
• Omar Onsi Rétrospective, 1997
• Georges Schehadé : poète des deux rives, 1905-1989, 1999
• Max Ernst, 2000
• Sergei Parajanov, collages and drawings, 2000
• Moustafa Farroukh Rétrospective, 2003
• Regards sur Beyrouth, 160 ans d'images, 2015
• Danielle Genadry, The Fall, 2016
• Assadour, landscape in Motion, 2016
• Ali Cherri. A Taxonomy of Fallacies: The Life of Dead Objects, 2016
• Let's Talk About the Weather: Art and Ecology in a Time of Crisis, 2016
• Susan Hiller Magic Lantern, 2016
• Adelita Husni-Bey: A Wave in the Well, 2016
• Fabrik, 2017
• Les mondes de Willy Aractingy, 2017
• Hrair Sarkissian Homesick, 2017
• Partitions et Couleurs : Hommage à Amine El Bacha, 2017
• Fruit of Sleep. Curated by Reem Fadda – Part of Act II program of Tamawuj, Sharjah Biennial 13, 2017
• Monira Al Qadiri: The Craft, 2017
• Joseph Sassine, The Experience of Light, 2018
• Abed Al Kadiri, The Story of the Rubber Tree, 2018
• Cy Twombly Photographs, 2018
• Zad Moultaka: ŠamaŠ
• Fleeting Exits, Curated by Marwan T. Assaf, 2018
• Past Disquiet, Curated by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti, 2018
• Gregory Buchakjian Abandoned Dwellings, Display of Systems, Curated by Karina El Helou, 2018
• Laure et Mazen : Correspondance(s), 2019
• La Fabrique des illusions: Collection Fouad Debbas et commentaires contemporains, 2019
• Baalbek, Archives of an Eternity, curated by Vali Mahlouji, 2019
• Picasso et la famille, 2019
• At the still point of the turning world, there is the dance. Curated by Carla Chammas and Rachel Dedman, 2019

References

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929061801/http://guides.hotelbook.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=84008 Guides.hotelbook.com], Events Guide: Sursock Museum (Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon)
2. [http://www.daratalfunun.org/main/activit/curentl/lebanon_art/exhib7.html Daratalfunun.org] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-04-23)
3. Kurator, Rebecca Anne Proctor, The. (2025-05-16). "A sanctuary of art: The long journey of the Sursock museum".
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070528080142/http://www.onefineart.com/en/articles_arts/galleries_in_lebanon.shtml Galleries Beirut, Sursock museum, Georges Guv Aref Rayess, John Haddian, Levon Moumjian. Madi Hussein]
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8. Helene Sallon:[https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/05/31/beirut-s-sursock-museum-a-showcase-for-lebanese-art-reopens_6028618_4.html ''Beirut's Sursock Museum, a showcase for Lebanese art, reopens'']. Le Monde, 31 May 2023
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20. (28 August 2017). "Les mondes de Willy Aractingi". L'Agenda Culturel.
21. (2017). "Partitions et Couleurs : Hommage à Amine El Bacha". Artforum.
22. (November 2017). "Fruit of Sleep". Nafas Art Magazine.
23. Michaela Bear. (30 August 2017). "Monira Al Qadiri's immersive exhibition at Gasworks transports viewers into an eerie world of American popular culture and extra-terrestrial visitations". Trebuchet Magazine.
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26. (2018). "Cy Twombly". Gagosian.
27. (1 June 2018). "ŠamaŠ pour la première fois au Liban". Le Petit Journal.
28. (10 August 2018). "Fleeting Exits, s'echapper de soir pour se retrouver". Femme Magazine.
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30. Kirsten O'Regan. (6 December 2018). "Photographs of Beirut's Abandoned Houses, Decades After the Civil War". Hyperallergic.
31. (28 January 2019). "Laure et Mazen : Correspondance(s)". L'Agenda Culturel.
32. (2019). "Exposition photo: La Fabrique des illusions : Collection Fouad Debbas et commentaires contemporains". L'Œil de la Photographie.
33. (8 August 2019). "The Baalbeck Exhibit is a Cultural Panorama of Lebanon". Al Bawaba.
34. (27 September 2019). "Picasso et la famille". Executive Bulletin.
35. (2019). "At the Still Point of the Turning World, There is the Dance". Aramco World.