The First Public Memorial to Lebanon's Civil War

After Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, the government passed an amnesty law that protected the conflict’s participants—from warlords to snipers—from prosecution. The policy has encouraged a culture of silence around the war. Despite the efforts of some NGOs and individuals, there appears to be general amnesia when it comes to the conflict. School textbooks do not discuss the war, and no public memorials or museums dedicated to its memory have been constructed until now.

Beit Beirut (“The House of Beirut”), slated to open in 2017,* will be the country’s first publicly funded museum documenting the civil war. The building itself wraps around a corner in the city center, constructed in the 1920s and 1930s by the wealthy Barakat family. For decades, its four stories contained eight elegant apartments as well as ground floor shops.