Lebanon’s cultural scene roars back, defying the economic meltdown

The historic and endeared Sursock Museum in Beirut announced this week that it would reopen its doors in May, more than two years after Beirut port blast devastated the art institution and much of its cherished artworks.

The 19th-century museum was the private villa of Nicolas Sursock, an art collector whose family was a prominent presence on the Lebanese scene and a believer in Lebanon’s artistic significance. According to the museum’s website, Sursock relinquished his property to the Beirut municipality upon his death, to transform it into a cultural haven.