Christophe Musitelli, adviser for cultural cooperation and action at the French Embassy and director of the Institut français du Liban, in his office in Beirut on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Credit: Maya Ghandour Hert/L’Orient-Le Jour)
He arrived in a Lebanon where cultural projects begin, stall, then resume at the mercy of successive crises. A few months into his tenure, Christophe Musitelli, adviser for cultural cooperation and action at the French Embassy and director of the Institut français du Liban, is still reluctant to offer a definitive assessment of the local art scene.A graduate of the École normale supérieure with an advanced teaching qualification in Italian, Musitelli held cultural posts in New York and San Francisco before becoming cultural adviser in Rome and director of the Institut français in Italy, where he also seems to have acquired a certain sartorial elegance. Before arriving in Beirut, he served as an inspector of foreign affairs at the French Europe and Foreign Affairs Ministry. He knows the workings of cultural diplomacy, but first wants to...
He arrived in a Lebanon where cultural projects begin, stall, then resume at the mercy of successive crises. A few months into his tenure, Christophe Musitelli, adviser for cultural cooperation and action at the French Embassy and director of the Institut français du Liban, is still reluctant to offer a definitive assessment of the local art scene.A graduate of the École normale supérieure with an advanced teaching qualification in Italian, Musitelli held cultural posts in New York and San Francisco before becoming cultural adviser in Rome and director of the Institut français in Italy, where he also seems to have acquired a certain sartorial elegance. Before arriving in Beirut, he served as an inspector of foreign affairs at the French Europe and Foreign Affairs Ministry. He knows the workings of cultural diplomacy, but first wants...