logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2022
31m 9s

Shattered glass of Beirut: The restorati...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

On 4 August 2020, a massive explosion destroyed the port of Beirut. It's impact was felt across the city, reaching the Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut (AUB). The pressure from the explosion shattered a glass display at the museum holding 74 glass vessels, mainly Roman with a few Byzantine and Islamic. The team at the AUB collected the shards from the floor, separated them and sent eight of the broken vessels to the UK. And so began the journey of collaboration between Lebanon and England to restore these ancient vessels at the British Museum. Janay Boulos, a Lebanese BBC News journalist, follows the journey of restoring these vessels and they become a symbol of Beirut, broken into pieces, scarred, and slowly being restored to its formal glory.

Up next
Apr 2023
Miss Marple returns
Agatha Christie is the world's most translated author, with her work being available in over 100 languages. And one of her most beloved characters, Miss Marple, is about to be resurrected with the help of 12 contemporary authors. In The Studio talks to two of those writers: Dreda ... Show More
28m 48s
Apr 2023
Erica Whyman: Directing Hamnet
Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel Hamnet was published in 2020 to great critical acclaim, winning the Women's Prize. It tells the story of a gifted herbalist, Agnes Hathaway, who is married to a young William Shakespeare. We follow her on her journey as they meet, marry, and la ... Show More
28m 47s
Apr 2023
Kieran Griffiths: telling the John Hume story
Beyond Belief - The Life And Mission Of John Hume is a new drama musical about the Irish politician who was one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process. Marie-Louise Muir goes behind the scenes of the production staged in Hume's home city of Derry with its directo ... Show More
29m 26s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2020
In Beirut’s glass, fragments of a city rebuilding
Beirut’s reconstruction in the wake of the August port explosion needs billions of dollars and months of work, and with little political or economic progress, the engine of the city’s reconstruction so far has been civil society. One recycling initiative is focusing on the glass ... Show More
10m 38s
Aug 2020
News Digest: The world scrambles to aid Lebanon in the aftermath of Beirut Explosion
This week, we tackle the aftermath of the massive explosion that shook Lebanon’s capital Beirut on August 4.The cataclysmic blast at Beirut’s port claimed the lives of at least 171 people and injured around 6,500 others. About half the city was left damaged or destroyed, with hun ... Show More
9m 29s
Aug 2020
BBC OS Conversations: After the Beirut explosion
Beirut has been left destroyed by this week’s massive explosion: more than a hundred are dead; thousands injured and hundreds of thousands have been left homeless. It has devastated lives, belongings, buildings, businesses. Lebanon was already struggling from challenges on severa ... Show More
24m 10s
Jul 2021
Rebuilding Beirut’s village in a city
A year ago Johnny Khawand saw the home he grew up in ripped apart by the massive explosion in a chemical dump in the port of Beirut, Lebanon – one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history. For hours Johnny fought to save neighbours trapped in the rubble, seeing some die in fr ... Show More
26m 28s
Aug 2021
Reconstruire le travail d’une vie (Rebuilding a Life’s Work)
Maya Husseini is a stained-glass artist who spent her career rebuilding churches in her hometown of Beirut. But after a warehouse explosion in August 2020, she’s forced to ask herself: Can she help rebuild Beirut again? A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/ ... Show More
25m 16s
Jul 2023
Women in Beirut: Rebuilding our city
In August 2020, an explosion destroyed the port of Beirut. More than 200 people lost their lives and thousands of small and medium women-owned businesses were destroyed. Kim Chakanetsa meets two entrepreneurs who are now working to rebuild their city and keep the economy going. I ... Show More
27m 22s
Aug 2020
Beirut Explosion
This episode is about the explosion that destroyed a significant part of Beirut on August 4th. If you want to donate to support people struggling in Lebanon, we recommend supporting 26 Letters who do incredible work with Syrian refugees in Beirut, or the Lebanese Red Cross who fu ... Show More
11m 2s
Aug 2020
42/"It Sounded Like The World Itself Was Breaking Open": The Beirut Explosion (with Lina Mounzer)
I spoke with Lebanese writer and translator Lina Mounzer about witnessing and experiencing the Beirut explosion on August 4th,  2020. So far there are 157 deaths, 5,000 injuries, US$10–15 billion in  property damage and an estimated 300,000 people left homeless. The blast was lin ... Show More
46m 56s
Aug 2021
I read the names of the Beirut port explosion victims
This is a special episode in which I just read the names of those who died due to the Beirut port explosion on August 4th 2020. Resources: http://beirut607.org/ http://thepublicsource.org/ https://armlebanon.org/ #BeirutExplosion  
22 m