The Sursock Museum is a museum of modern art and is located in central Beirut, not far from the port area where the explosions occurred. Museum director Zeina Arida was at the museum when it exploded.
- It was a feeling of panic. I was afraid to go out. Afraid that objects would fall on us. Afraid that there was an air bombing. I'm sure I heard the sound of an airplane before the explosions, but I know there are other explanations, she tells Dagens Nyheter.
"Never seen damage near this"No one in the museum's staff was injured in the explosions, but both the building and the museum's artwork have been damaged.
- Since the art museum opened here, 1961, we have undergone fifteen years of civil war and several assassinations but never seen damage that can come close to this, Zeina Arida tells Dagens Nyheter.
Several art galleries in the Lebanese capital, such as the Marfa Gallery and Galerie Tanit, have been completely destroyed, reports The Art Newspaper.
- One of my employees is in intensive care and the gallery has been damaged, gallery owner Saleh Barakat tells the newspaper.
Hundreds of people are missing, thousands have been injured and more than a hundred people have died as a result of the Beirut explosions.