The United Nations is helping to restore cultural sites in Lebanon damaged by the 2020 Beirut port explosions which, according to Human Rights Watch, killed 218 people, displaced 300,000, and caused $3.8bn of material damage.
Among the projects, Unesco and UN-Habitat are transforming the ruins of Beirut’s Mar Mikhael train station into a 10,000-sq-m cultural building, helped by $3.5m from Italy. It’s due for completion in 2027.
Beirut’s Grand Theatre closed in 1990 and was damaged in the blast. Now, a $1m donation from the UAE will help fund the first phase of restoration by stabilising the building and beginning a cultural project.
Unesco will fund seven artistic and craft projects in the Phoenician cities of Baalbek and Tyre.
Unesco has undertaken the $45m LiBeirut initiative, which aided the rehabilitation of schools, vocation training centres, heritage buildings and artworks.
UN-Habitat has previously carried out the BERYT Project, which ran from August 2020 to September 2025, rehabilitating 12 residential buildings in Beirut’s Achrafieh, Medawar and Rmeil neighbourhoods.
Audrey Azoulay, Unesco’s director general, said: “In the aftermath of the port explosions, thanks to international mobilisation and the commitment of the Lebanese people, Unesco was able to launch a major operation to support schools, cultural institutions and artists.
“Five years later, I am proud to see the concrete results of this great collective project.”
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