As you’re walking in Downtown Beirut, especially in Place de l’Etoile with the clock tower in the middle, you’ll find a hidden gem… Literally, right underneath the oldest cathedral in Beirut, Saint George Orthodox Cathedral that dates back to the 14th century.

This museum, called The Crypt Museum, was inaugurated in 2011 and opened to the public, and anyone can visit the museum to get to know in an engaging way the layers of this city of Beirut dating back in this area of Beirut right under the church, to the Hellenistic period. The most exciting part of this museum is that at some point, if you look up, you’ll be looking through a glass ceiling that shows the church right above you, and people above in the church can look down and see you! Honestly, that is really stimulating and shows the brilliance of designing this museum.

However, you need to note that to enter the beautiful historical zone that leads you to this museum and church, you need to pass by the “not-so new” security checkpoints (just one parliamentary guard) who might allow you in or not. The roads that have the Lebanese Parliament and Lebanese Grand Serail of Ministers got surrounded by checkpoints post 2019-revolution in Lebanon for security purposes.

Last but not least, you can buy a CD with short documentation of the archaeological excavation process that took 17 months in 1994-1995, covering 316 square meters. They sell it in 3 different languages: Arabic, English, or French, for 100,000 LBP only.