In 1942, Lebanon's National Museum opened in Beirut, celebrating the country's golden age and inside, it housed some of the region's most important artifacts. So when the Lebanese war started in 1975, the museum staff came up with a risky and elaborate scheme to save everything inside the museum. This week on Kerning Cultures, the story of how a small team of museum employees protected thousands of years' worth of history.

Thank you to Suzy Hakimian, Anne-Marie Afeiche and Dr. Reinhard G. Lehmann for speaking to us for this episode.

This episode was produced by Alex Atack, with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Tamara Rasamny, and Hebah Fisher, with fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Sound design by Mohamed Khreizat. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.

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