Beirut museum reopens almost three years after being damaged in port blast

A crowd of people gather at the courtyard of the Sursock Museum (Hussein Malla/AP/PA)

The Sursock Museum in Beirut has reopened to the public almost three years after a deadly explosion in the city’s port reduced many of its treasured paintings and collections to ashes.

The reopening on Friday night offered Beirut residents a rare bright spot in a country reeling from a crippling economic crisis that has left around three-quarters of Lebanon’s population of six million in poverty.