Tuesday 03 September 2013, 8:00AM
To Monday 30 September 2013
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Contact Claude Serhal
VIDEO:
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Location Saida
Press release:
Sidon: The best of 15 years
‘Sidon: The best of 15 years’ is the title of an exhibition featuring 43 of the most representative objects found during the 15 years of British Museum/Directorate General of Antiquities excavations in the city of Sidon. For the first time, between September 3rd and November 3rd 2013, a small piece of our past will be on show to the public in the form of an exhibition. Under the patronage of the Ministry of culture /Directorate General of Antiquities and organized by the Lebanese British Friends of the National Museum, the exhibit was generously subsidized by the Philippe Jabre Association along with the philanthropic involvement and contributions of the exhibition’s architects Dagher & Hanna, as well as Scope Ateliers and Martine Harmouch, the exhibition’s graphic designers.
In 1998, the Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon gave the British Museum permission to excavate on what is commonly called “College site”, a plot of land “expropriated in the 1960’s by the late Maurice Chehab for the purpose of research and methodic excavation without the pressures of developers. The “College site” project is one of the most important urban excavations to take place in the Lebanon. It gives the visitors an overview of the historical continuity of a city beginning at the end of the 4th millennium BC reaching through to the medieval period, thus taking us back five thousand years.
In order to fully understand the magnitude of Lebanon’s heritage, culture and history, come and have a look at the first exhibition about the early lifestyle of people in ancient Sidon revived and brought back to life by a team of archaeologists.
In an effort to include a broad spectrum of school children and students, the exhibition has organized a drawing competition with the famous international paper mills and stationers ‘Fabriano’. The theme of the competition is “Our ancestors are just like us”. Schoolchildren will visit the site to learn about our ancestors and then find commonalities between current and ancient traditions before drawing a scene depicting their interpretations.
This exhibition offers an early glimpse of the future Sidon Museum which will house 1400 objects excavated from “College” site and will be the first of its kind in Lebanon. Entrance to the exhibition is free and aims to be accessible to all.