Walking across the Sursock Museum’s courtyard, my attention was diverted from its beautiful façade by a series of glass panels, set at regular intervals amid the neat stone paving. Looking down, I was surprised to see an enormous underground chamber. Beneath my feet lay the museum’s brand new, state of the art exhibition hall, part of an ambitious seven year renovation program that will cost an estimated $10 to $12 million, undertaken by architects Jean-Michel Wilmotte (who did the museography of the Louvre Museum in Paris, among others) and Jacques Abou Khaled (responsible for the design of Lebanon’s Bsous Silk Museum). Built in 1912 by aristocrat Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock, the villa was given to the city of Beirut as an art museum upon his death. The Sursock Museum first opened its doors to the public in 1961, housing a permanent collection and hosting the annual Salon d’Automne, a juried exhibition
India is a British-Indian freelance writer and journalist. She was based in Beirut for eight years from 2011 to 2019, reporting on Lebanon and the Middle East. In 2019, she spent six months reporting from Latin America and since 2021 she has been based in Istanbul.
