How BeMA is rewriting Lebanon’s cultural future

The Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA) will celebrate two major milestones in its cultural and educational mission on Thursday, Dec. 11, at Villa Audi in Beirut: the 10th anniversary of its Creative Pathways program and the launch of Arts Ambulants, a new initiative that carries art beyond museum walls into public spaces.

Though distinct, the two projects share a common purpose. Both reflect BeMA’s foundational mission to make art accessible to all and to use it as a tool for education and social transformation.

The story began a decade ago, when then–Minister of Culture Rony Arayji confronted the dire conditions of the UNESCO storage facility that housed nearly 1,000 works by Lebanese masters. For more than 30 years, these paintings had languished in a damp depot that endangered their survival. Many works suffered significantly — cracked paint, torn canvases, distortions caused by humidity, and overall deterioration.Faced with this cultural emergency, the minister turned to the Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon (Apeal), which signed a contract with the Ministry of Culture with two mandates: to restore the paintings and to find them a permanent home.

BeMA became that home. As the foundation of its permanent collection, the museum will host the Ministry of Culture’s extensive art holdings, which will be publicly exhibited for the first time in the ministry’s 100-year history. Out of roughly 3,000 artworks collected between 1890 and 2010, BeMA selected 2,000 pieces to be included.

This exceptional collection spans more than 300 Lebanese artists. It includes major figures such as César Gemayel, Omar Onsi, Michel Akl, Paul Guiragossian, Amine el-Bacha, Nada Seikali, Helen El-Khal, Rafic Charaf, Aref El-Rayes, and dozens of others.

Restoration work began nearly 10 years ago at the UNESCO facility under the direction of Kerstin Khalifeh, a specialist in painting conservation. Khalifeh, a German conservator married to a Lebanese national, not only took charge of restoring the works but also trained Lebanese teams from the outset. Today, a paper conservator, Caroline Gelot, has joined the restoration team.

“With both experts, we are doing trainings for the youth so that they become official restorers in Lebanon. At the same time, we bought all the necessary equipment so that we have an independent department. We have become very self-sufficient. Now, we’ve become leaders in the field of painting and paper restoration in Lebanon,” says Juliana Khalaf, BeMA co-director.

BeMA also formed restoration partnerships with three Lebanese universities: the American University of Beirut (AUB) Science Lab, the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA), which plans to open a restoration department next year, and Saint Joseph University (USJ), which will host the museum on its Damascus Street campus, near the Mim Museum.

Conceived as an open museum covering 12,000 square meters, BeMA is designed by architect Amale Andraos. The six-story building will blend modernist balconies with Beirut’s vintage Art Deco verandas, forming a hybrid architectural expression rooted in the city’s visual heritage.

The cornerstone was laid in 2022, and construction is expected to be completed in 2029. BeMA is financing the project through fundraising efforts, including contributions from board members and competitive grants.

“We apply for grants. We are counting on the Lebanese and the Lebanese diaspora also to finance this project. The biggest challenge for us was the 2019 economic crisis. We lost most of the money that had been raised before the crisis in the banks. And after the crisis, unfortunately, culture was not a priority. We kept silent for a very long time in terms of fundraising because we didn’t feel it was the right time to ask for funds to save a collection when humans needed saving as a priority,” Khalaf says.

She also stresses the importance of Creative Pathways, describing it as an initiative that sees art as a tool for education and transformation.

Launched in 2017 in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and funded by BeMA, Creative Pathways introduced art into Lebanon’s public education system — a system in which most public schools lack any art curriculum. The program offers students and teachers direct access to artistic creation, encouraging imagination, critical thinking, and artistic expression.

Now, as BeMA resumes its public activities, the December 11 exhibition at Villa Audi continues the museum’s mission to expand access to art. Titled “Unfolding landcapes”,” the exhibition features about 60 paintings and marks the official launch of Arts Ambulants, a new program designed to rethink cultural engagement by bringing art closer to everyday life, community spaces, and social encounters across Lebanon.

As part of this initiative, the same exhibition was previously shown at the Beiteddine Palace, from July 3 to Nov. 19, where it drew 30,000 visitors.

The exhibition will continue traveling to other regions of the country. At Villa Audi in Beirut, it will remain on view through Feb. 24, 2026.