The Beirut National Museum is a treasure trove of history, art, and culture, offering visitors a captivating glimpse into Lebanon's past. Located in the heart of Beirut, this iconic museum houses an extensive collection of artifacts spanning millennia. The circuit begins on the ground floor where 83 large objects are displayed, these include sarcophagi, mosaics statues and reliefs. The upper floor displays 1,243 small and medium-sized artifacts arranged by chronological order and by theme in modern showcases with soft lighting and magnifying glasses that emphasize the aesthetic aspect of the artifacts. The museum displays follow a chronological circuit beginning in Prehistory and ending in the Ottoman era.
The collection has prehistoric artifacts from early hunter-gatherer societies ranging from the Lower Paleolithic (1M–150,000 BC) to the Neolithic (9000–3200 BC).
The Bronze Age (3200–1200 BC) saw the birth of Lebanon's first fortified villages, the development of commercial and maritime activities and the invention of the world's first alphabet in Byblos.This collection includes the museum's masterpiece: the sarcophagus of Ahiram, which holds the oldest text written in the Phoenician alphabet.
The Iron Age (1200–333 BC) in Lebanon saw the climax of the Phoenician civilization, which culminated in its maritime expansion and the transmission to other cultures of the alphabet (which was attributed by the Greek legend to the Tyrian Cadmus). The Hellenistic period (333–64 BC). In 333 BC, the decisive victory won by Alexander the Great over the Persian king Darius III opened Phoenicia to the Greek conqueror.
In 64 BC, the military expedition of the Roman general Pompey put an end to the anarchy prevailing in the Seleucid Empire, and Phoenicia became part of the Roman world. But Roman civil wars continued to disrupt the region until 31 BC, after which, with the reign of Augustus, the pax romana extended over the area.
After the death of Theodosius I in 395 CE, the Roman Empire was divided into a western and an eastern empire. The Lebanese cities were attached to the latter, and converted to Christianity which became the state religion in 392. The emperor ordered the destruction of pagan temples, but cults like those of Adonis and Jupiter Heliopolitanus were kept alive by the local population and survived in some form for centuries
The Arab conquest of Lebanon was completed in 637 CE. The expansion of the coastal cities, which had slowed down after earthquakes in the 6th century, revived during the Umayyad period. Their harbors and shipyards showed renewed activity, and the hinterland saw extensive irrigation work for agriculture
يُعد متحف بيروت الوطني كنزاً يزخر بالتاريخ والفن والثقافة، إذ يتيح للزوار إلقاء نظرة آسرة على ماضي لبنان. يقع هذا المتحف المتميز في قلب بيروت، ويضم مجموعة واسعة من القطع الأثرية التي تعود إلى آلاف السنين.. يبدأ هذا المسار في الطابق الأرضي حيث تُعرض 83 قطعة كبيرة الحجم، تشمل التوابيت والفسيفساء والتماثيل والمنحوتات البارزة. أما الطابق العلوي فيضم 1243 قطعة أثرية صغيرة ومتوسطة الحجم، مُرتبة وفقاً للتسلسل الزمني والموضوعات داخل خزائن عرض عصرية؛ وتتميز هذه الخزائن بإضاءة هادئة وعدسات مكبّرة تُبرز الجوانب الجمالية للقطع المعروضة.
