Against erasure: The artists preserving south Lebanon’s stories

Against erasure: The artists preserving south Lebanon’s stories Submitted by Rita Kabalan on Mon, 07/13/2026 - 14:16 Beit Beirut holds an exhibition where villages are remembered through photography, film and personal archives Rawan Mazeh documents the story of Muhammad Saeed (pictured) and his elderly parents who were detained and tortured in the notorious Israeli-run Khiam prison in south Lebanon in 1998 (Rita Kabalan/MEE) Off On the intersection of Independence Street and Damascus Street sits Beit Beirut, a museum stoically standing, part preserved by its original architecture and part shaped by the restoration work needed after Lebanon’s 1975–1990 civil war. Originally a residential building known as the Barakat building, or the Yellow House, it later became a strategic location for snipers overlooking the crossroads on what was then the Green Line during the conflict. The building, once a witness to war, is now a museum space where people share stories and others come to experience them.