Sursock Museum

The Sursock Museum (Arabic: قصر سرسق), officially known as the Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock Museum, is a modern and contemporary art museum in Beirut, Lebanon. 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: 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 See also Sursock family Sursock House References External links Sursock Museum website Lebanon.com information Onefineart.com information