ICOM International Council of Museums - International Institute for ...

museum exhibits. It was universally agreed that no decoration should distract thevisitor’s attention from the exhibition (Arch. IFAPO/SAHC) 36 .Within the next thirty-five years, the collection increased substantially due toexcavations conducted on the Lebanese territory or the purchase of objects throughthe generosity of the ‘Friends of the Museum Committee’ or the donations of differentpeople 37 (Asmar, 1997: 2). The history of the collections of the National Museum ofBeirut is quite a complex one and needs to be set out in a detailed way. In January1921, Brossé has documented the Ford collection which consists of a unique collectionof twenty-five anthropoid sarcophagi and important fragments of big stone bull capitals.The intention of the Fine Arts and Antiquities Service was to acquire the entirecollection for the Museum of Beirut. The five sarcophagi that Dr. Contenau haddiscovered in Sidon in 1914 were moved to Beirut. One of the most important was thesarcophagi with a sailing ship. Again, one sees the problems of space mentioned, assome of the sarcophagi were placed in the court of the Grand Sérail and the other fourwere not exhibited.The collection of the museum had increased considerably since 1919, and it wasimpossible to present all of it to the public. The recently acquired collection was placedin disorder in one of the dark rooms of the building (Arch. IFAPO/SAHC) 38 . Discussionsresumed again concerning the price that Dr. Ford was putting forward to sell thefragments of the Achaeminid sculptures in his collection (Arch. IFAPO/SAHC) 39 . Whenthe Head of the Antiquities Service noticed that one of the sarcophagi of the Fordcollection was going to be purchased by Columbia University, he opposed the projectand asked the High-Commissioner to interfere and urge the Governor of GreaterLebanon not to let the sarcophagi leave the country as they have an exceptionalinterest for Lebanon. Dr. Ford asked for 200,000 francs for the whole collection oftwenty-five sarcophagi (Arch. IFAPO/SAHC) 40 . A letter was sent to Ford telling him thatthe Antiquities Service did not possess the sufficient means to buy his entire collectionand that the High Commissioner was waiting for the answer of the Governor to seewhether the Museum was willing to conserve the collection. If his answer was negative,then the Antiquities Service would give Ford the permission to export his collection(Arch. IFAPO/SAHC) 41 . In 1924, General Weygand expressed clearly that “if theNational Museum wished to conserve those artefacts, then it was necessary to pay Dr.Ford a compensation for his excavation efforts and if the Lebanese Government sawno point in acquiring this material then according to decree 14 of the order of August 2,1919, Ford had the right to export all his collection if he wished” (Arch. DGA) 42 . Fordwrote to Virolleaud telling him that he had not heard anything from the Lebanesegovernment and that he needed an authorisation to export his antiquities (Arch.DGA) 43 . The answer was delayed and there was no response on behalf of theLebanese government, so Ford turned to another interested party, the University ofChicago. It seems that John Rockfeller, Jr. was interested in acquiring the collection for25,000 US Dollars and donating it to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago36 Letter No. 282/S.A. from the High Commissioner of the French Republic to the Delegate of the High- Commissionnext to the government of the Lebanese Republic, dated Beirut, March 1932.37 Fouad Alouf, Georges Asfar, Elias Bustros, Michel Chiha, Saïd Bacha Hmadé, Dr. Basile Khoury, Cheikh Fouad El-Khoury, Kamal Bey Joumblat, Henri Pharaon, Dikran Sarrafian along with the generous donation of Henri Seyrig whogave two thousand coins, were among the people who donated objects to the MNB.38 Letter No. 343 from Virolleaud to the High-Commissioner of the French Republic in Syria and Cilicia, dated Beirut,January 20, 1921.39 Letter No. 930 from the Head of the Antiquities and Fine Arts Service of the High-Commission, to Dr. Ford dated,Beirut, January 22, 1923.40 Letter No. 979 from the Advisor for the Antiquities and Fine Arts Service of the High-Commission, dated Beirut, March23, 1923.41 Letter No. 986 from the Advisor of the Antiquities and Fine Arts Service to Dr. Ford, dated Beirut, April 7, 1923.42 Carton 3: Fouilles-Liban, Collection of Dr. Ford, Letter from General Weygand to the Greek Catholic Archbishop ofSidon, dated Beirut January 1924.43 Op. Cit., Letter from Ford to Virolleaud, dated Saida, May 5, 1923.8