Each year, the International Council of Museums organizes the international Museum’s Day, during which, museums all over the world open their door to their visitors and offer a lot of activities. Each year has its own theme.

2023
Theme: Focus on sustainability and wellbeing

“Anfeh, an Open-Air Museum”
DAM organized a guided tour to Anfeh promontory. The tour started with a brief introduction to the town and the several sites excavated by DAM, followed with a stop at the chapel of Saydet el Rih for the frescos and certain archaeological features before moving to the oil presses and the promontory itself.
The promontory tour included the trenches of the medieval castle, an oil press, and ended with the latest discovery of the trebuchet balls on one of the discovered walls.
Attendees got the chance to chat with our ceramologist to learn more about the importance of pottery in excavations.



2022
Theme: The Power of Museums.
“Turath Qalhat: Exploring its Traditional Heritage”
In celebration of the International Museum Day 2022, the Ethnography Museum of the University of Balamand, with the university’s Department of Archaeology and Museology, launched a three-day cultural event in cooperation with the Municipality of Qalhat from May 19 to May 21.




2019
Theme: Museums as Cultural Hubs: the Future of Tradition.
“Storytelling and soap making tradition”
Ms. Ghada Salem presented the traditional soap making process
Ms. Nassim Alwan, the Hakawati (storyteller) performed stories on Lebanese traditions.



2018
Theme: Hyper connected museums: New approaches, new publics.
“Rails without Trains”
An exceptional exhibition curated by Museum Studies students, Jessica Merjaneh and Mariane Kahhaleh, aiming to show the possibility of Syrian-Lebanese Connectivity in the context of a hyper disconnecting social environment caused by the demographic change in the city of Beirut since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Please note that this event was canceled due to security issues.



2017
Theme: Museums and Contested Histories: Saying the Unspeakable in Museums.
The event tackled the subject of violence against women in Lebanon.
Directed by Lina Abyad, Dima Mikhael Matta performed in Arabic the theatrical presentation of “The Archaeology of Pain”. This was followed by a presentation on violence against women by Mrs. Myriam Jabre, attorney at Law.



2016
Theme: Museums and Cultural Landscapes.
An exhibition about goldsmith: “Constantine Kawass, the story of a jeweler from Tripoli”.

Mr. Kawas is a jeweler from Tripoli. In 2011, he donated 150 pieces from his collection of tools to the Ethnographic Museum. The exhibiton included some of his tools, his workbench that he used since he started working at the age of fourteen. The exhibition also showcased some old jewelry pieces. Part of his collection will be added to the permanent exhibition of the Ethnographic Museum.



2015
Theme: Museums for a sustainable society.
An exhibition of photos and films entitled: “Anfeh unveiled one step at a time: Archaeology, Fauna and Flora, Salt Production and Fishing Practices for a Sustainable Future”.



2014
Theme: Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.
An exhibition of prints and postcards from the Fouad Debbas Collection and the An-Nahar Research and Documentation Center on: “Lebanon from the 1930’s to the Independence”, in partnership with the Département des études contemporaines, IFPO. It was followed by a panel discussion on: “The socio-political mobilization movements of the 1930’s”.



2013
Theme: Memory + Creativity = Social Change
An exhibition of auto chromes and films from The Albert Kahn Museum (Paris): “Lebanon in the 1920’s through the prism of General Gouraud”, in partnership with the Anna Lindh, Foundation and the Beirut Biennial for the Image.
It was followed by a panel discussion on: “The historical dialectic in the birth of Nations”.



2012
Theme: Museum in a Changing World, New challenges, New inspirations.
Cancelled due to security issues.

2011
Theme:Museum and Memory
A photo exhibition of Dr. Houda Kassatly’s: “Pictures of Beirut”. The exhibition was accompanied by the signing of three books:
1.Beyrouth: L’iconographie d’une absence, by Dr. Houda Kassatly,
2.Mouneh and Man’ouché by Mrs. Barbara Massaad
3.La vannerie by Mrs. Noor Majdalani;
The event ended with a concert by Soprano Ghada Ghanem accompanied by her Oriental Chamber Music Orchestra who performed old forgotten songs from our musical oriental heritage.



2010
Theme: Museums for Social Harmony
A Two-Day Seminar on Museums: A Way to Intercultural Communication & Social Cohesion” organized by ARADO in collaboration with Balamand University and in partnership with Arab ICOM.“Museums as agents of social cohesion” a case study: The Ethnographic Museum at the University of Balamand.

Museum Nights is an event organized by the Ministry of Culture since 2014.
During this one-day event, the participating museums open their doors for free to their visitors on extended opening hours, from 5h p.m. till 11 p.m. The event includes wine tasting and musical concerts.

2019
An Oriental Musical night was held with Charbel Eid on his Oud and Patrick Morcos playing the Nai -oriental flute- and singing.



2018
“Cliffhangers storytelling” traveled to our museum to share stories about the objects we do not let go of: souvenirs from many places around the world.



2017
Soundz Good is a Balamadian band constituted of 9 members: Rita Camilos and Serena Khalil (Vocals), Mohamad Kaddour (drums), Nadim Lati, Mehsen Azzi and Raphael Alwan (percussion), Fadi Yahya (Lead Guitar), Karim Hammoud (piano) and Hassan Jundi (Keyboard). They played some oriental and occidental tunes.
This event was followed by the special performance of Clarina Bezzola and Miles Pittman live at the Museum. They presented a contemporary Art performance entitled: “The Lady with a Thousand Faces”. This short performance was all built around an aria from Ciléa’s opera -Andrea Lecouvreur.



2016
A live performance of Samir Medawwar (clarinet and drums) and Georges Najjar (piano and saxophone) from Crescendo followed by wine tasting by Kefraya.

2022
Traditional Mashhara
As part of the Black is Back exhibition, DAM and the Ethnography Museum designed the activity of constructing a traditional mashhara with the guidance and support of Michel and Moussa Khoury. The activity entailed building a mashhara following four crucial steps, then creating ornaments from charcoal and wool.



2017
Basket weaving workshop
On Monday 10th of July 2017, the Ethnography Museum organized a children's program (9-14 years old) on traditional basket weaving techniques. For 2 hours, the participants got familiarized with the weaving techniques and their use and learned how to better appreciate this forgotten craftsmanship. And at the end, they got to make their own baskets!

2022
Black is Back
The Department of Archaeology and Museology celebrated Christmas 2022 with “Black is Back!” exhibition that highlights the traditional Lebanese artisanal production of charcoal, or مشاحر .

The exhibition delineated the history of charcoal production and the process of charcoal making, accompanied by photographs and a short documentary video. It also included fun activities such as educational games and Christmas crafts.




“Turath Qalhat: Exploring its Traditional Heritage”
In celebration of the International Museum Day 2022, the Ethnography Museum of the University of Balamand, with the university’s Department of Archaeology and Museology, launched a three-day cultural event in cooperation with the Municipality of Qalhat from May 19 to May 21.

Set-up in the heart of the village, Turath Qalhat featured an exhibition highlighting different aspects of Qalhat’s own cultural heritage, wherein the audience was invited to explore the village’s rich history, various architectural elements, as well as its ethnography traditions.

A talk was given by Dr. Patricia Antaki and Ms. Rita Kalindjian at the Ethnography Museum to furthermore elaborate on the findings in the presence of UOB colleagues, municipality members, cultural associations and people from Qalhat.

Activities and workshops for kids and young adults took place on the last day, ending with a big rally paper game around the village, a fun way to rediscover the corners of Qalhat.



2021

Theme: Wicks in the Wax.

Traditional candle making at Hamatoura Monastery-Koura, North Lebanon

Mr. Alexandre Hajjar (B.A. in sociology), conducted a filmed interview in November 2021, in the Monastery of Our Lady of Hamatoura about the production of beeswax candles. Based on the report covering it, the Ethnography museum of Balamand exhibited some explanatory panel texts, photos, a short movie as well as some of the utensils used by the priests to make the candles. This event included a manual activity during which the participants made their own candles using beeswax sheets.