“The idea of establishing an ethnography museum was first discussed in November 2007.

Since then, a conscientious effort was made to acquire objects that can be purchased at reasonable prices. The initial acquisition of six objects from the old market in Tripoli started as a timid move and within the space of two years, families and friends, who were very supportive of the project, donated around 400 items. Today our collection counts around 750 items.

The initial museum building was probably a barn, located in the premises of Balamand Monastery and annexed to it. Abandoned for several centuries, it was reused during the 19th century as a shed; hence the name "Goat House". Then it was abandoned again and left in ruins. It was rebuilt by Dagher Hanna & Partner in 2008.

In May 2009, the ethnographic temporary exhibition opened its doors to the public hosting the collection items as a permanent exposition. Following years of commitment to research, publications and organization of public and academic activities, it became a museum.

In January 2015, the collection was successfully registered as the "University of Balamand-UOB Ethnography Museum" at the International Council of Museums (ICOM).”

The museum’s mission and vision is to:

-Participate in our ancestors’ history by immersing the audience in everyday-life stories, providing an "inside point of view" that yields a stronger connection and deeper understanding of it.

-Preserve, research and publicize objects used by our ancestors that bear witness to important lessons, e.g., a perfect adaptation to their environment, an intelligent use of local resources, living in harmony and respect of nature, skillful use of tools and true artistic creations, etc.

-Promote national and political unity in a society challenged by its diversity and plurality by highlighting our historical roots and traditions. From within that scope, the collection of our museum was not built around a pre-existing nucleus, but in response to a clear vision of preserving a long-gone common heritage.

-Disseminate the stories and wisdom/know-how of the past to the younger generation, taking into consideration that the youth are vital social actors in each of their communities. The younger generation may often discard or forget the past in their aspiration for a better future. Hence, placing value on the past via the museum’s collection is primordial to enhance their contributions and interest in such museums.

Mrs. Lamia Kawar

Messrs. Michel & Moussa Khoury

2019 
-Under "Youth Projects", in collaboration with Fighters for Peace (NGO), the Lebanese University-Faculty of Social Sciences, the Institute for Foreign Relations (ifa) and Foreign Office Federal- Republic of Germany and in cooperation with UNESCO.
Participation in researching testimonies and collecting oral history interviews of former Lebanese militia and thus, contributing to save and document  the collective memory of Lebanon. [ http://fightersforpeace.org/Home/Projects]

-"Mapping Bourj Hammoud Artisans", in collaboration with Nahnoo and Badguer (NGOs) .
Participation in mapping of 51 artisans in Burj Hammoud, looking at the challenges they face, and the opportunities that exist for developing intangible heritage culture in the area. 

2017
Signature of "HIMA Anfeh" between the municipal council of Anfeh and  the SPNL (Association for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon) and appointment of Dr. Nadine Panayot-Haroun as Director of "Hima Anfeh".


2014-2015 
An ethno-anthropological study was undertaken on Enfeh’s salt, its history, its production as well as the various extraction techniques that have evolved over time while remaining ancestral, in collaboration with Anfeh and Neighborhood Heritage Committee (NGO).
Published in: Kalindjian, R. La production de sel à Enfeh : une tradition en voie de disparition. In N. Panayot (Ed.). (in press). BAH (Hors-Série).


2014 

• "Anfeh Maritime Ethnography Field School"

  In response to this direct threat to the maritime traditions of the fishermen community in Anfeh, the Anfeh Maritime Ethnography Project was established. The aim of this project was to conduct training in maritime ethnographic techniques and record Anfeh’s rich maritime cultural heritage. 
Published in: Retrieved from https://honorfrostfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Recording-the-tangible-and-intangible-maritime-heritage-of-the-Anfe-seafaring-community_Project-Report.pdf

-Van Rensburg, J. J., & Kalindjian, R. ( in press). The Lebanese felucca in Anfeh and el Mina, Tripoli: An ethnographic study of form, fit and function. 

-Van Rensburg, J. J., & Kalindjian, R (in press). The Ethnographic Maritime Heritage of the Anfeh Fishing Community, Lebanon. In PanayotBAH, (Hors-Série).

• Participation of Rhea Dagher (research assistant) in an international training programme for museum and heritage professionals run by the British Museum for a period of six weeks in the UK. This programme seeks to expose participants to various aspects of museum work, to develop skills, disseminate best practice, increase specialist knowledge and create a global network of colleagues. 

2013
Anfeh oral history preservation. Interviews of Anfeh’s inhabitants were collected and will be published as soon as the project is completed. Through intergenerational oral history and lore, people share their knowledge and life experiences according to their own understanding. The long term objective of collecting this kind of data is to engage with the local communities and preserve their customs and traditions.

2018

• Kalindjian, R. (2018, October 25). The Lebanese felucca in Anfeh and el Mina, Tripoli: An ethnographic study of form, fit and function. Lecture presented atThe 15 th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology (ISBSA) at the Mucem, Marseilles.  
• Panayot-Haroun, N. (2018, November 28). Anfeh: From Nature to Culture to Conservation; A Scientific Challenge. Lecture presented in AUB Archaeological Museum, Beirut.

 2017

• Panayot-Haroun, N. (2017, October 6). Préserver le village côtier d’Enfeh au Liban; Étude de cas", Lecture presented at Un littoral, Des Littoraux: Le patrimoine naturel et culturel du littoral en Méditerranée in MuCEM, Marseille.
• Panayot-Haroun N. & Semaan L. (2017, October 20). Preserving the Landscape of Anfeh: From Nature to Culture. Lecture presented at Under The Mediterranean: In the Footsteps of Honor Frost in Nicosia, Cyprus.
• بنايوت هارون ن. ( ٢٠١٧، ٤-٥ كانون الأول ). الطرق المعتمدة للمحافظة على شط أنفه. محاضرة ألقيت خلال موْتمر: الشاطئ اللبناني و الخطة الشاملة لترتيب الأراضي في نقابة المهندسين، بيروت.

 2016

• بنايوت هارون، ن. ( ٢٠١٦، ٢ أيار) . أي دور للأيكوم العربي في دعم مرصد الأيكوم الدولي لحماية الإرث الثقافي؟ محاضرة ألقيت خلال مؤتمر الأيكوم العربي: الوضع الراهن للمتاحف العربية: نحو إنشاء مرصد عربي للتراث المنقول في المتحف الوطني باردو، باردو. تخلل هذا المؤتمر مداخلات عديدة، منها: التعريف بمتحف التراث والتقاليد، التابع لجامعة البلمند.

2015

• UNESCO, D.A.M.(UOB) & ICOM-Arab (Organizers). (2015, November 26-27). Museum preparedness in times of armed conflicts - Training for Museum professionals and administrators. Training held at Emergency Safeguarding of the Syrian Cultural Heritage in UNESCO office, Beirut.  

2014

• Panayot-Haroun, N. (2014, June 4). Could Archaeology Become a Spearhead for the Development of EcoTourism? A Case Study: Anfeh, Lebanon. Lecture presented at Takaful 2014: Fourth Annual Conference on Arab Philanthropy and Civic Engagement in AUB, Beirut.

2013

• الجامعة اللبنانية وجامعة البلمند (تنظيم) (٢٠١٣، ١١-١٢-١٣ ت٢). المرصد الثقافي وسياسات المتاحف. مؤتمرعقد في جامعة البلمند، البلمند.

2012

• Abdul Massih, J., & Panayot-Haroun, N. (2012, November 03). An Assessment of the Lebanese Heritage Law: From the twentieth to the twenty-first century. Lecture presented at Protecting the Cultural and Archaeological Heritage of the Mediterranean Region: Legal Issues in Nicosia.

2011

• D.A.M. (Organizer). (2011, November). Collection Analysis and Collection Development Strategy both considered in relation to museum space and facility needs. Seminar held in ALBA, Sin-el-Fil. 

  
2010

• Panayot-Haroun N. (2010, October). Museums as a factor of social cohesion: The Ethnographic Museum at the University of Balamand - المتاحف كعامل للتماسك الاجتماعي: المتحف الإثنوغرافي في جامعة البلمند . Lecture presented at Museums: A Way to Intercultural Communication and Social Harmony in UOB, Beirut.

1999

• بنايوت-هارون ن. ( ١٩٩٩، ت٢). بين الواقع و الرمز: قراءة تاريخية لأناجيل الطفولة. محاضرة ألقيت خلال أناجيل الطفولة - قراءة لاهوتية و تاريخية و أدبية، في مطرانية الروم الأرثوذكس، بيروت

In Press - In Progress

• Kalindjian, R. (in press). La production de sel à Enfeh : une tradition en voie de disparition. In N. Panayot (Ed.). Mission archéologique d’Enfeh - Liban. Vol. 1: Valoriser et préserver: Les enjeux d’un défi scientifique. BAH (Hors-Série).
• Van Rensburg, J. J., & Kalindjian, R. (in press). The Lebanese felucca in Anfeh and el Mina, Tripoli: An ethnographic study of form, fit and function.
• Van Rensburg, J. J., & Kalindjian, R. The Ethnographic Maritime Heritage of the Anfeh Fishing Community, Lebanon. In N. Panayot (Ed.). (in press).  BAH (Hors-Série).

 2020

• Kalindjian, R. & Dagher, R. (2020). Paving the Way to a Lebanese National Narrative: Empathy at the Armenian Genocide orphans' Aram Bezikian Museum in Lebanon. In V. Rey (Ed.), The art of minorities: Cultural representation in museums of the Middle East and North Africa (Alternative Histories). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

 
2019

• Panayot-Haroun, N. (2019). Anfeh: From Nature to Culture to Conservation; A Scientific Challenge. Archaeological Museum Newsletter, 33(1) , 20-26. 
• Van Rensburg, J. J. (2019). Recording the Tangible and Intangible Maritime Heritage of the Anfeh Seafaring Community, Lebanon. Retrieved from https://honorfrostfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Recording-the-tangible-and-intangible-maritime-heritage-of-the-Anfe-seafaring-community_Project-Report.pdf

2018

• Panayot-Haroun, N. & Trovato M. G. (2018). Anfeh coastal landscape: preservation, management and landscape planning strategies. Journal of Marine and Island Cultures 7(2) , 46-62.

2017

• Panayot-Haroun, N. (2017). Save The heritage of Anfeh: Archaeology and Ethnography. Archaeological Museum Newsletter, 30 (1), 11-22.

2016

• Semaan, N. et al. (2016). Remembering the Sea: Personal and Communal Recollections of Maritime Life in Jizan and the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Maritime Archaeology,11(2), 127-177.
• Panayot-Haroun, N. (2016). أي دور للأيكوم العربي في دعم مرصد الأيكوم الدولي لحماية الإرث الثقافي؟ . ICOM ARAB Newsletter.

 
2013

• Abdul Massih, J., & Panayot-Haroun, N. (2013). An Assessment of the Lebanese Heritage Law: From the twentieth to the twenty-first century. In C. Bakirtzis & V. Karageorghis (Eds.), Protecting the cultural and archaeological heritage of the Mediterranean region: Legal issues - Proceedings. Nicosia: A. G. Leventis.
• Kassatly, H. & Panayot-Haroun, N. (2013). Matériel de la vie rurale: Lexique trillingue de la collection d'objets ethnographiques de l'Université de Balamand . Beyrouth: Publications de l'Université de Balamand & Editions Al Ayn.
• بنايوت هارون ن.، الدهملي ش.، عبد الوارث أ. و النجار ع. (ترجمة). ( ٢٠١٣ ). ميثاق الأيكوم للآداب والأخلاقيات المهنية بالمتاحف. (اللجنة الدولية للأخلاقيات  في المتاحف التابعة للمجلس الدولي للمتاحف، تحرير).
• بنايوت هارون ن. و الدهملي ش.  (ترجمة). ( ٢٠١٣ ). المفاهيم الأساسية  لعلم المتاحف. ( أ. ديسفاليس و ف. ميريس، تحرير).
• بنايوت هارون ن. ( ٢٠١٣ ). المتاحف كعامل للتماسك الاجتماعي: المتحف الإثنوغرافي في جامعة البلمند. في المرصد الثقافي وسياسات المتاحف. طرابلس: منشورات الجامعة اللبنانية وجامعة البلمند.
• عطية ع. و كيال م. (إعداد). ( ٢٠١٣ ). المرصد الثقافي وسياسات المتاحف: أعمال المؤتمر التشاركي بين الجامعة اللبنانية معهد العلوم الإجتماعية-الفرع الثالث وجامعة البلمند معهد التاريخ والآثار ودراسات الشرق الأدنى. طرابلس: منشورات جامعة البلمند.

2011
Panayot-Haroun, N. (May 2011). The Ethnographic Museum at the University of Balamand. Balamand News, 8, 2-3.

2009
Panayot-Haroun, N. (2013). Permanent Ethnographic Exhibition [Pamphlet]. Tripoli: UOB Publications.

1. Exhibitions

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.