Beirut National Museum, enclosing the world best selection of Phoenician art and a treasure trove of art crafts, reflects 6000 years of civilization and heritage. The National Museum of Beirut is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The museum was officially opened in 1942. The museum was designed in an Egyptian Revival style and built with Lebanese ochre limestone.

It comprises a basement, a ground floor, a mezzanine floor and a terrace; the central block is covered by a glass roof, above the mezzanine, giving natural overhead light. The whole site is approximately 5,500 square metres (59,000 sq ft), and the exhibition floor space totals 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft). The immediately adjoining museum annexes and administrative offices occupy about 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft).

The museum has collections totalling about 100,000 objects, most of which are antiquities and medieval finds from excavations undertaken by the Directorate General of Antiquities. About 1300 artifacts are exhibited, ranging in date from prehistoric times to the medieval Mamluk period. Pieces are exhibited over two floors and follow a roughly chronological order in clockwise rotation. After a major renovation, the National Museum of Beirut has regained its former position, especially as a leading collector for ancient Phoenician objects.