The Lebanese National Library has finally reopened its doors to the public!
Housed in the old Ottoman Sanayeh building, it is one of the cultural institutions and national treasures that suffered the most during the Lebanese civil war.
In 1999, the National Library was recognized as a national cultural project and that led to officially adopting the National Library Rehabilitation plan.
The Lebanese National Library was launched in 1921 with 20,000 books and 3,000 manuscripts bequeathed by Viscount Philippe de Tarrazi from his private collection.
Today, it is home to one of the region’s largest book collection, more than 300 000 works including thousands of invaluable manuscripts, rare religious books, a collection of atlases and maps, as well as other books and documents.
