Robert Mouawad Private Museum, Private museum in Zokak el-Blat, Lebanon

The Robert Mouawad Private Museum houses rare books, Chinese porcelain, ceramics, Byzantine mosaics, Roman marble sculptures, weapons, carpets, and jewelry spanning multiple periods. The collection draws from different civilizations and centuries, creating a broad view of decorative and functional art.

The palace was built in the neo-Gothic style in 1891 by Henri Philippe Pharaoun, a Lebanese politician and art collector from the Pharaoun family, who left it to his son Henri in 1922. Henri filled it with oriental and occidental pieces, including 17th-century wooden panels acquired on his travels to Syria. Robert Mouawad bought the palace in 1990, restored the facades over seven years and opened it as a museum on 11 May 2006.

The rooms feature decorative wooden panels and religious icons that blend Eastern and Western artistic traditions together. Walking through, you notice how different cultures left their mark on what people collected and valued.

The museum occupies a palace in the Zokak el-Blat quarter of central Beirut, a short walk from the city centre. It closed after the 2020 Beirut explosion and has since reopened, so confirm current opening hours before setting out. The visit is indoors, through furnished palace rooms.

The first Lebanese flag was drawn and signed on the museum grounds, according to the Arabic source. The palace also holds a 70-carat diamond dated 1893, described as the second largest in the world, and an emerald pocket watch from the 15th century.