The Sursock Museum was built in 1920 by Nicolas Sursock
as a private residence. Before his death he made an
agreement with the Beirut City Council for it to be
turned into a museum. At the time the President of
the Council was a Greek Orthodox. Subsequently the
Council appointed somebody for the upkeep and management
of the Sursock Museum with the title of Mutawalli,
meaning in Arabic a person in charge, or warden. The
warden of the museum was a Sunni Muslim, but this
had nothing to do with the initial mistake of Nicolas
Sursock, which was to undertake the transformation
of his house into a museum without informing himself
about the proper procedure as followed for donations
to a museum in Europe and more particularly in America.
There are for example in America a number of small
museums with a charter and an administration that
are thoroughly effective and that have a strictly
regulated division of activities and financing. In
this way financial contributions for the administration
of the museums and for the purchase of exhibits do
not become involved in dubious transactions. Following
the death of Nicolas Sursock, his house became not
a museum but a place for the reception of distinguished
visitors. It was only in 1962 or 1963 that thanks
to the efforts and insistence of Ibrahim Sursock the
house returned to its vocation as a museum, henceforth
under the direction of a committee presided by Yvonne
Sursock Cochrane.
At
this time the warden of the museum was Ameen Beyhum,
who had a law passed according to which 10% of the
revenues coming from building permits issued for Beirut
was given to the museum.
However,
this was of little help to the museum, since the sums
so obtained were put in the private account of Ameen
Beyhum. So there followed a very sharp disagreement
between the warden and Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, the
latter insisting that such sums should be entrusted
to a special committee responsible for the finances
of the museum. However, Lady Cochrane lost her case
and had to give up her position as head of the committee
following a quarrel in which Charles Helou was involved,
at that time still President of the Republic.
The
unfortunate outcome of the debate was that the Sursock
Museum was unable to obtain the funds needed for the
purchase of the exhibits which would make the Sursock
residence into a museum properly so-called. For this
reason it remains only showrooms for exhibitions.
However, it is only right to point out that there
are in the coffers of the Beirut Municipality some
fifty million dollars that normally should form the
capital of this unfortunate little museum
(Translation from the French: K.J. Mortimer)
-
The
Sursock Art Museum:
>> View
Movie << (2008-06-01)
