Lebanese National Library Reopens with Funding from Qatar, ALIPH

Lebanese National Library

The Lebanese National Library reopened Thursday after completing the restoration work of its buildings, that were damaged in the Beirut Port explosion, with the co-financing of the State of Qatar and the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH).

Acting Charge d'Affairs at the Embassy of the State of Qatar in the Lebanese Republic Ali Mohamed Al Mutawa represented the State of Qatar at the reopening ceremony of the Lebanese National Library.

In his speech in the ceremony, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed thanks to the State of Qatar and the ALIPH foundation for financing the project to restore and advance the Lebanese National Library. Despite all the challenges and political, economic, and social concerns that surround Lebanon, the word and culture will have its title in the heart of the capital, as a living witness that Beirut will not die, Mikati said.

Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Al Murtada said that the State of Qatar thankfully donated to restore the library twice, the first in 2008 and the second about a year ago in cooperation with the ALIPH foundation, an international alliance concerned with preserving heritage in conflict areas in the world, following the catastrophe of the Beirut Port explosion.

He said that the National Library contains the books printed and published in Lebanon, as well as the production of the Arab pens in Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and elsewhere, from books in various aspects of culture, which were not published in Lebanon and the production of foreign pens in various languages from all over the world.

Lebanese President General Michel Aoun inaugurated the Lebanese National Library in Beirut in December 2018, whose revival and advancement project was funded by the State of Qatar with an amount of USD25 million. Qatar has supported the library again after the Beirut Port incident, where the efforts of the Qatar National Library, ALIPH, UNESCO, and other partners to assist cultural institutions and school libraries in Lebanon to rehabilitate their buildings and restore their archives. (QNA)