The Sursock Museum Library and Archive is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available local and regional art historical resources, making it a resource for students, scholars, artists, curators, and the wider public.
The holdings include a collection of approximately 4,000 books, publications, and periodicals. You can see the Library’s book holdings here. Books are available for consultation on-site and can be requested from the stacks. A searchable database is forthcoming.
The Archive holds the records of the Sursock Museum Archives – exhibition documentation, press clippings, Institutional records, Artist Dossiers, as well as other archives documenting modern and contemporary art practices in the region and beyond. In addition, the Sursock Museum Library also aims to preserve the archives of galleries, cultural institutions, and artists in Lebanon. These materials are also publicly accessible for consultation and research, upon request. Please speak with the librarian for more information.
The Archives are currently in the process of being inventoried and digitized and can be consulted by appointment only. Please fill out this request form and contact [email protected] for more information on the Archive Holdings and/or to make an appointment.
Access policy
The Library is open to the public and offers free WiFi and four desktop computers with internet access.
The Library is open from Wednesday to Saturday, from 13:00 to 18:00.
Archive holdings
The Archive holdings contain a range of materials from the Museum and donated archives including the Sursock Museum Collection; the Sursock Museum exhibitions and Salon d’Automne; artist dossiers; Museum institutional records; Nicolas Sursock's personal archive; the Fouad Debbas Photography Archive and collection; La Revue du Liban: 1975-2000, donated by Perle and Henri Misk; Chahine Gallery archive; Amal Trabousli archive.
Library programming
In addition, the library hosts temporary displays and public programming. Previous events include some of the ARP Talks series; International Archives Day: Towards a Preservation of Endangered Archives, organized by the Modern Heritage Observatory (MoHO); La Plume de Pierre display; Les Mondes de Willy Aractingi parallel library display; the Contextualizing the Art Salon in the Arab Region archive display.
Sursock Museum exhibition history project
As part of an effort to make accessible the Sursock Museum’s exhibition history to the wider public, the Museum will be sharing information and selected documents from the previous exhibitions organized and hosted by the Sursock Museum (1961-2010) on the website. The project is a work in progress and will gradually be uploaded and updated.
You can access and download the library catalog here.
