Conserving ancient glass vessels destroyed in the 2020 Beirut Explosion | Shattered Glass of Beirut

On the evening of 4 August 2020, a massive stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded at the port of Beirut. The explosion was the largest man-made, non-nuclear explosion in history. The blast killed at least 218 people, injured 7,000 and displaced 300,000 as well as causing $15bn of damage. The immediate and lasting effects have been deeply traumatic, not just for Beirut's citizens but for all Lebanese people.
Just over 3km from the epicentre of the explosion, at the Archaeological Museum at the American University of Beirut, a case displaying 74 glass vessels was blown from the wall, and thrown to the floor. The case, the surrounding windows and 72 of the 74 ancient glass vessels were shattered. Shards of the ancient glass were almost inextricably mixed with each other, as well as with glass from the case and windows.
This is the story of those 8 vessels. This is the story of the damage they suffered, the scars they will forever bear as witnesses to the explosion and as an expression of defiance in the face of destruction. This is a story of healing reflecting the recovery of the citizens of Beirut as they rebuild their lives and their city.
GENUINE CONTENT WARNING: This film starts with footage of the explosion, real-time footage of the damage it caused, and the aftermath of the damage done to Beirut.
To find out more about the vessels: www.britishmuseum.org/exhibit...
In collaboration with the Archaeological Museum at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
The British Museum is grateful to the following for their support of the project:
TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund, part of The European Fine Art Foundation
HENI
The Radcliffe Trust
The Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust
The Leche Trust
The Thriplow Charitable Trust
Friends of the Middle East Department
The Wakefield Trust
Middle East Airlines
The Museum also wishes to thank the Embassy of Lebanon to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Institut national du patrimoine, France (Inp), and the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH) for their assistance in making this project possible.

[@greenarrow219]

Great to see museums working together to help the Beirut museum. Trying to reconstruct all this glass mixed up in the cabinet glass, bloody amazing.

[@paulinemegson8519]

It must have been heartbreaking for the curator in Beruit. Such an incredible reconstruction job tho.

[@mojosbigsticks]

How inspiring. Not to just a take a broom and say 'Well that's that', but to fight for these precious little objects.

[@cambriainthemix674]

This makes my upper level art history classes come alive. Thank you for sharing this with the world, and preserving these pieces for humanity.

[@paulblaquiere2275]

I found the exhibit extremely moving, and it’s so great to see the story in more detail here. Amazing work.

[@JaffaCakeGecko]

This is absolutely incredible. Astonishing work from all involved, to bring these items back to life, and the patience required! Now these items can tell not only their original history, but the history of this event and their restoration, thanks to your efforts

[@JEARP]

My heart is overjoyed to see the dedication of those who reconstructed these beautiful glass pieces. I was in the Beirut Museum about 10 years ago and saw them before the explosion. I had not realized the explosion had damaged the museum (not really thinking there!) Anyway, brilliant work everyone, thank you thank you.

[@kts8900]

What a beautiful process. All I could think was “how precious, what love.”

[@mariposahorribilis]

It takes a very special kind of person to look at all that destruction and see that there's a chance of retrieving anything. It must also take a special kind of person to have the patience and concentration to rebuild these artefacts - like doing a jigsaw when you know you are most unlikely to have all the pieces and almost certainly have pieces that don't belong. And the jigsaw has only very subtle changes from one part to another, like a picture of a cloudless sky. My congratulations to all the team for your indomitability.

[@cassopsnoxdigger614]

well done everyone involved in such a massive & complex undertaking, it must give you all a massive amount of pride to see the finished items in front of you once again...a very good video, thanks BM.

[@CrowSkeleton]

Thank you for showing archaeologists helping archaeologists, and that coda about what it is we *do* when we preserve the past in objects...it's not about the shiny, or the sheer age of the thing, but the layering of memory and preservation of the lost.

[@classicambo9781]

devastating on top of all the human pain

[@MisterBrickFilms]

I remember the news about the explosion. Less than a day later, on August 5th, our team excavated one of the rarest Roman glassware items in France, the Autun cage cup. I never thought there could be a thematic link between the two events, that is very interesting, thank you.

[@dawnmoriarty9347]

Magnificent work that is benefiting, not just Beirut Museum but conservators from all over the world to gain more skills. In addition, such cooperation gives hope to the world

[@Disbandeddeath1]

Absolutely amazing

[@VincentGroenewold]

Very fascinating, I immediately wondered if this would be a great thing to figure out by a computer, given you could get very good pictures of the pieces.

[@IngviGautsson]

I thought the same. I guess it would require 3D scanning each tiny piece of glass. But I don't know of any technique that could reliably scan such tiny transparent objects. You would probably have to coat each piece in an opaque material to be able to scan it. I guess using human brains is the most efficient way to do this.

[@465maltbie]

Amazing work, I would go so cross eyed trying to find a place for all those little pieces. Charles

[@mhansl]

Each person involved in these reconstructions are a credit to humanity. Thank you.

[@Pembroke.]

Glad to hear everyone's okay. You've got one monumentous task to complete. Well put the kettle on and grab some crazy glue and a magnifying glass everyone. Take care and stay safe ❤️

[@merlapittman5034]

Amazing work - just marvelous how well they could reconstruct these objects

[@inventiveowl395]

I mean. I make models. Paper, plastic, wooden, you name it. The longest project took me over 800hrs. It would be fun to do the individual puzzles to put something back together. But I don't think I'd have the pacience to sift through *every. single. shard* of glass on that floor.. Wow.

[@monicacallesarenales5865]

Thanks for your efforts and hope in art!

[@Giannis_Sarafis]

What an effort! Congratulations to all of you!

[@98Zai]

Very cool work! I recently broke one of my favorite glasses. They are brown and wavy from the 60's or 70's. They are not valuable or anything, but they are the most beautiful ones I've ever seen and I only had 4. I was heartbroken when it fell to the floor, and I felt bad for days afterwards. After watching this I am really happy I didn't throw it out yet! You've inspired me to attempt to repair it for use as decoration. I've admired Kintsugi a long time, and I love the whole wabisabi philosophy; but I am unsure if I could pull that off. If anybody knows something about that type of repair I'd love to know what I could do at home. I was thinking about buying a soldering iron, but perhaps it's wiser to just use superglue?

[@Reziac]

There might be a special glue for glass, don't just use superglue off the shelf without checking first. Also, glad you plan to save it -- there is never enough beauty in the world. We should preserve whatever we can.

[@98Zai]

@@Reziac Thanks for the tip! 💗 I hadn't considered special glue for glass. I must investigate further 🕵 I agree, even though it's now useless as a drinking vessel, the fact that it broke in mostly big pieces increases the chances of it still looking pretty good when mended!

[@Reziac]

@@98Zai It's probably a cyanoacrylic, but there are different kinds. Good luck!

[@Sally4th_]

If you've not done anything like this before I'd strongly advise practicing on something less personally precious first. Get some cheap glasses from a thrift store and smash/fix until you're happy with the results. The key is taking your time, not trying to do it all in one hit and not being afraid to get the solvent out to separate pieces if you find they're not sitting right. Good luck!

[@98Zai]

@@Sally4th_ Wow, great tips! Thank you so much While I am apprehensive about smashing something just for practice, I just realized all my glass recycling (peanut butter jars!) would just get smashed at the recycling plant anyways! I am probably more excited about this than I should be :D

[@PM-xp7rk]

Amazing work!

[@lievenmoelants]

Fantastic work, ladies! World class.

[@mostlychimp5715]

This conservation work says more about our culture than the glasswork itself says about its culture.

[@webbsurfer]

Amazing patience and perseverance, well done!

[@semperfidelis2970]

When these things happen to our cultures, to our history, to our heritage... It's beyond horrific, not just for the people of that country, but for the whole world. We stand to lose so very much, all that we are. It's integral that we put forth every effort to preserve these kind of things and protect them.

[@willemvandebeek]

Amazing restoration work, good job for who were participating in this! :)

[@phoeben9764]

This is a great collaboration effort. Just curious, how do museums make custom foam insert to contain the glass? Does it have to get ordered, or can be DIY?

[@boonyaritsaengsurasin2021]

Great job on the conservation ever!!!

[@SA-bc6jw]

So intricate. The patience and delicacy of their touch...

[@lindaj5492]

Amazing work! Can’t help but wonder if some of the boxes still in Beirut (18:50) might contain those missing fragments?

[@TR3A]

What glue was used? I imagine that in addition to requirements for strength, colour, transparency, setting time, etc., there would also be reversible foe rework or future conservation.

[@AerOner13]

OMG what a work... Next time i want to help you, plz call benevol for this kind of work ! Thx for sharing this !

[@janinemarsh108]

gripping viewing

[@sherryrector2275]

Courage. Stay strong we want the story.

[@PeterGaunt]

What amazing determination.

[@michalcooperman201]

Ultimately this is a story of hope....

[@blue_champignon5738]

Can any of the tiny shards that cannot be reassembled be used for chemical testing?

[@exactlyaron]

When I grow up I want to be just like Claire. Or Irving Finkel or Albert Haft or Sue Brunning. Keep up the amazing work.

[@Auxius.]

I'm super sad for this, these people are amazing. On the flip side, it's good that they break now and not 1900 years ago- because they wouldn't have thought anything of it and lost to history.

[@100musicplaylists3]

Someone should write some software and use a supercomputer to speed up the process of matching fragments. im sure something like that probably already exists.

[@BlueBaron3339]

Extraordinary! An uncomfortable and sad truth is that as horrible as inexplicable and avoidable loss of life is, the loss of important and ancient cultural achievements is tragic. Unlike people, these cannot be replaced, wretched as that sounds. As Jacob Bronowski put it many years ago, “Every animal leaves traces of what it was. Man alone leaves traces of what he created.”

[@happybat1977]

People can't be replaced. Each one is unique, each one is a loss. i will never cease to mourn my lost loved ones.

[@BlueBaron3339]

@@happybat1977 Nor will I forget the ones I love either.

[@happybat1977]

@@BlueBaron3339 But then how can you say they are replaceable? If it is not true for our loved ones, it's not true for anyone

[@BlueBaron3339]

@@happybat1977 No person living now would ever consider the people they love replaceable. That's true. But many people were born just in the time it took to write this reply. We replace the entire human race at least once every century. But the culture of the past can be destroyed utterly. And while we may be unaware of it, our lives are built on the past. Not the best way to make my point, I'll grant you that. *sigh*

[@jack_brooks]

Couldn't a handheld x-ray fluorescence analyzer be used to identify matching pieces by comparing their atomic signature? You could probably even automate some of it with some kind of custom conveyor system.

[@blxtothis]

An awful and tragic, tragic, accident but my heart goes out to victims and their relatives of this dreadful incident. History and valuable antiquities are so important but human life comes first.

[@loganbutler1016]

I bet they wish they had installed those screws securing the showcase to the wall.

[@scotland638]

🎵 Walking on,walking on broken glass 🎵

[@jdkgcp]

Super glue.

[@mark3464]

Maybe not put them back into glass cabinets

[@onixotto]

Lovely. I would have just said fuck it and vacuum the whole floor.

[@nadiaveronicahalboth5480]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@maineoutdoorsman677]

Super gluei broke a glass cup one fixed it

[@Whoiskevinjones]

I'm sorry, but is this really the best use of limited resources?

[@donato_donato]

And then some other explosion or isis attack or whatever nonsense typical of the area will destroy them for good.. If these object have a value for all humanity should be preserved in safe places. Sending them back is a death sentence

[@tonylarussa4046]

It seems like it will take years to get them back to exhibitable order.

[@haumakaa]

Get back the Moai, the hava and all the stolen things to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), you pompous thieves!🗿

[@andrewsock1608]

I guess they should vacuum seal them in bags unless you want to do the puzzle again each time an stupid human agrees to fight a evil suits war for him 😂🤣

[@tobeymaguire647]

i mean you could do something else with your life but you do you

[@georgehenry76]

I’ll bet the museum is publicly funded.

[@AnyoneCanSee]

I'm British and I fully support funding these repairs even though these belong to another country. History is important to us. Usually, the same people that moan have no issue funding national soccer teams and BS like that.

[@dawnmoriarty9347]

A true delight to see funds being used to mend a tiny part of the world's woes

[@georgehenry76]

@@AnyoneCanSee but…I thought ‘nothing matters’…

[@joedavis4150]

.. forget the glass. The people are way more important. Protect the people.

[@AnyoneCanSee]

Why can't they do both? Even if you don't understand the historic value of these items the museums attract tourist money which they will need.

[@wesley135]

The British museum needs to return all the artifacts it's stole from so many countries

[@dalj4362]

What items would that be? My guess is you haven't got a clue, and you're just copying what others have said with no knowledge.

[@wesley135]

@@dalj4362 Benin Bronzes, Parthenon Marbles, Rosetta Stone, the Giant diamond that the king put in his crown and many many more you can just Google a list if you want to know everything that the British have stolen and refused to give back

[@haumakaa]

​@@dalj4362 The moai, the hava, and many stolen things of Rapa Nui, just to give an example. You're just guessing with no knowledge. Please look for information about the Hoa Hakananai'a moai stolen in 1868 on Easter Island. And about the visit to the British Museum by the Rapa Nui-Chilean delegation with traditional authorities and a government minister to ask for its return in 2018.

[@trinitytwo14992]

I dont believe the story for the explosion at all, looks like a Directed Energy Weapon to me.

[@StolenPw]

Nobody going to talk how that "Special tape" (Scotch®) is able to hold that together so well