Description
The AUB Museum, founded in 1868, is the third oldest Museum in the Near East. Begun with a donation from General Cesnola, the American Consul in Cyprus, the collection has since then grown steadily. Today the Museum exhibits a wide range of artifacts from Lebanon and neighbouring countries tracing man's progress in the Near East from the Early Stone Age to the Islamic period.
The Museum's wealth comes from the variety of categories its objects belong to. Besides the collection of pottery (the largest category), the following are represented: Prehistoric flint tools, bronze figurines, tools and weapons, gold jewelry, Phoenician and classical sculptures and bas-reliefs, Egyptian alabaster vases from Byblos, cippe from Tyre, lead deity figurines from Baalbeck, precious and semi-precious stones intaglios, decorative bone items, hair pins and musical instruments.