Sursock Museum

Beirut

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This privately owned contemporary-art museum is housed in a 1912 mansion located in one of Achrafiyeh's most attractive streets. After a major facelift that added underground exhibition spaces, it's looking very spruce indeed. Temporary exhibitions are the major artistic drawcard, but the permanent collection includes interesting and varied pieces from the important Salon d'Automne exhibitions as well as earlier-20th-century portraits (moustache and fez de rigueur) and landscapes. Rest your legs in the plush Arab salon.

On the top floor, a particular highlight is Zaven Hadichian's fluid Les Amants sculpture in marble.

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