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Lebanon’s National Library set to re-open Thursday

Lebanon’s National Library set to re-open Thursday

Culture Minister Muhammad Mortada said that the National Library will re-open on Thursday. (Credit: Muhammad Mortada/@JugeMMourtada)

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s National Library, located near the Sanayeh Gardens in Beirut, is set to once again re-open its doors Thursday, Culture Minister Muhammad Mortada announced.

Here’s what we know:

    • In a tweet Wednesday, Mortada wrote that “the pulse of life will return to the heart of the National Library,” an institution that first shut down 1979, during the country’s 15-year civil war that came to an end in 1990, and has since faced decades of limbo.

    • The National News Agency said that a ceremony would be held at 11 a.m. to inaugurate its opening.

    • In 1999, an old Ottoman-era building in the Sanayeh neighborhood, near Downtown Beirut, was set aside as the new site for a revived National Library.

    • Since then, the project to restore the institution has faced numerous challenges, delays and false starts. Construction work on the site finished in 2017, and the site was inaugurated by President Michel Aoun in December 2018, only for it to close down again for further maintenance.

    • The National Library suffered further damage from the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion. 

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s National Library, located near the Sanayeh Gardens in Beirut, is set to once again re-open its doors Thursday, Culture Minister Muhammad Mortada announced.Here’s what we know:    • In a tweet Wednesday, Mortada wrote that “the pulse of life will return to the heart of the National Library,” an institution that first shut down 1979, during the country’s...