Byblos, cité millénaire du Liban

At a time when the preservation of Lebanon’s heritage and the transmission of cultural legacies are major concerns, the Institut du monde arabe is dedicating an exhibition to Byblos, an international seaport. Immerse yourself in the history of this city that played a key role in Mediterranean history, connecting the Lebanese coast from early antiquity to Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Aegean world, forging unique ties with the pharaohs and playing a major part in the spread of the Phoenician alphabet.

Obelisk of Abishemou, mosaic of the abduction of Europa: 400 objects, presented within a carefully designed exhibition, plunge you into the epic of this ancient Lebanese city, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. A story that began more than 8,900 years ago and whose protagonists are sailors and merchants, kings and pharaohs. On display are the latest discoveries from the ancient harbor and the results of recent excavations, which have brought to light the city’s southern gate and a Bronze Age necropolis that has reached us intact.

From fishing to international trade

Byblos bears witness to the urbanization of the region, which begins as early as the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. The site attests to uninterrupted human occupation and development from the first settlements of a fishing community some 9,000 years ago up to the present day. The Bronze Age city is at the heart of the exhibition; it is one of the earliest examples of a city-state in the Mediterranean world. Visitors are also invited to discover Phoenician, Hellenistic and Roman Byblos, and to see the testimony of those who still live today in the beating heart of the medieval historic town. Byblos sits on a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean, 40 km north of present-day Beirut. From 3200 BCE it became one of the Mediterranean’s principal ports and remained so for more than 2,000 years. The city owed this status in large part to the unique relationship it developed with the Egyptian pharaohs around the cedar trade. Byblos lies at the foot of great cedar forests, whose timber was prized from the earliest antiquity for construction and for its fragrance, and whose resin was used in mummification.

Treasures of kings and temples

The treasures discovered in the royal necropolis and the temples of the city from the early 2nd millennium BCE form one of the highlights of the exhibition. A selection is presented here, from the tombs of the kings of Byblos Abi-Shemou and Yapi-Shemou-Abi: gold and silver tableware, gold ornaments inlaid with semi-precious stones, mirrors, ceremonial weapons... Many of these objects show a strong Egyptian influence; some even come directly from Egypt, gifts from the pharaohs Amenemhat III and IV. The votive deposits of the Temple of the Obelisks are no less rich: faience figurines, gold and silver fenestrated axes, ceremonial daggers, jewelry... accompany the procession of hundreds of bronze human figurines, sometimes gilded.

An intact necropolis

Explored as early as the 19th century by Ernest Renan, the site of Byblos still holds many secrets, some of which have only recently been revealed and are being shown to the public for the first time: the recent discovery of a necropolis belonging to the upper classes and elites of the city of the Middle Bronze Age (around 1800 BCE), which remained intact, is one of the elements of the exhibition. Since 2019 this necropolis has been the subject of archaeological excavations carried out as part of a cooperation between the Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon and the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities of the Musée du Louvre. This presentation allows visitors to learn about the excavation campaign and the artifacts brought to light, which have already transformed the understanding of the social and economic organization of this maritime city.