Byblos at Institut du Monde Arabe
Paris’ Institut du Monde Arabe is presenting 9,000 years of history through finds from the Byblos necropolis and tombs, offering a millennia‑scale narrative on Levantine urbanism and ritual (x.com). The display positions Byblos as a continuous port city whose funerary record reframes Mediterranean trade and cultural exchange across epochs (x.com).
The Institut du Monde Arabe opens “Byblos, cité millénaire du Liban” on March 24, 2026 and will run through August 23, 2026, presenting the museum’s billed selection of roughly 400 artifacts in the permanent galleries. (imarabe.org) French President Emmanuel Macron formally inaugurated the show on March 23, 2026; the opening was attended by Lebanon’s culture minister Ghassan Salameh and IMA president Anne‑Claire Legendre. (elysee.fr) (mif.org.lb) The programmed highlights named on the IMA site include the Obélisque d’Abishemou and a two‑metre Roman mosaic of the Abduction of Europa, the latter arriving in Le Havre by container on March 21, 2026 just ahead of the inauguration. (imarabe.org) (la-croix.com) Organizers disclosed that several key loans were moved to Paris under wartime constraints and that some works were marked in the galleries as “œuvre bloquée par la guerre” to reflect pieces still held up or endangered at origin. (la-croix.com) (lorientlejour.com) The exhibition was curated by Élodie Bouffard and realized with media and institutional partners including France Culture and financial support from foundations such as the Michel Issa Foundation, which accompanied officials during the opening. (tv5monde.com) (radiofrance.fr) (mif.org.lb) The show foregrounds recent joint archaeological work — including the discovery of a Bronze Age necropolis and a newly identified southern gate of the ancient port — results of Franco‑Lebanese field projects that the IMA and institutions such as the Louvre have documented. (imarabe.org) (louvre.fr)
