The Umayyad Digital Museum is one of the main tangible results of the Umayyad Route project (2013-2016); it is conceived in (2016) with the financial support of the EU funding ENPI-CBC MED program. It encompasses one main projection screen of 56-inch and 8 digital stations with 42-inch screen and i-Pads available for researchers, visitors, students and faculty from local schools and universities in the region and in Lebanon. Also exhibits the partner countries’ guidebooks of the Umayyad Route.

 

The project involves 14 partners from Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In Lebanon, the partners are the Lebanese American University (LAU), Byblos Municipality and the Safadi Foundation in collaboration with the ministries of Culture and Tourism.

Project Scope

The scope of this project includes:

1. Management and coordination.
2. Analysis of cultural heritage and local economic situation within the tourism sector in each partner country.
3. Identification and exchange of good practices between European Union Mediterranean countries and Mediterranean partner countries.
4. Joint design and development of project strategy, highlighting three basic action axes:
   1. Promotion of sustainable tourism through cultural heritage support
   2. Diversification of the supply of tourism services
   3. Tourist infrastructure
5. Application of best practices and creation of a cross-border network implemented through pilot action: launch of Umayyad cultural itinerary.
6. Communication and dissemination. 

Outcomes

The project presents the following outcomes:

1. Design of a specific Mediterranean common tourist brand within the Umayyad itinerary.
2. Establishment of a museum in one of the Mediterranean partner countries. (This has already been fulfilled with the selection of the LAU-Louis Cardahi Foundation to house the project’s outputs).
3. Partner countries’ guidebooks have been published and are available in hard copies in the foundation and has been considered a valuable addition to our foundation’s library collection and in PDF format available on the project’s webpage  (Algarve - Andalusia - Egypt - Jordan - Lebanon - Sicily - Tunisia) 
4. Identification and transfer of good practices in cultural tourism.
5. Stimulation of initiatives between the public and private sectors.
6. Establishment of a Mediterranean Cultural Tourism Network.
7. Design of an integrated strategy composed of three dimensions: cultural heritage, diversification of the supply of tourism services and tourist infrastructure.
8. Specific training for stakeholders in the tourism sector.
9. Organization of thematic forums and rounds tables.
10. Set up of a tourist toolkit: thematic holiday/travel packages.
11. Identification of commercialization channels.
12. Publishing Smart Ways Lebanon by the Umayyad Route

Selected Activities

The Digital Museum is playing a major role in the promotion of cultural tourism activities for the city and the region of Byblos, in collaboration with the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe through the Ministries of Culture and Tourism. Other activities have been achieved in collaboration with local and international cultural heritage associations, NGOs and regional municipalities throughout Lebanon.

- Andalusian Days by the Umayyad Digital Museum

May 06, 2023 

The framework of Lebanon’s accession into the “Enlarged Partial Agreement” of the “European Institute of Cultural Routes” of the Council of Europe, and the cooperation agreement between El Legado Andalusi, and the Lebanese American University (LAU) - Louis Cardahi Foundation defines the strategic planning and goal setting required to achieve the implementation of a number of tangible activities.  The various activations are manifested in the form of exhibitions, promotions, research and publishing initiatives, as well as, the development of socio-cultural activities to serve the engaged communities. This rich diversity of initiatives and institutions holistically contribute to enhancing our Euro Mediterranean Intercultural Dialogue by celebrating Andalusian Days in Lebanon by the Umayyad Route. These objectives are a result of close collaboration with the above-mentioned stakeholders and the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture.

This cooperation agreement is between the following two parties:

1. “El Legado Andalusí” is a unique Andalusian Public Foundation that has among its objectives the dissemination of historical, artistic and cultural heritage of al-Andalus. The foundation dynamically champions the projection of culture and heritage at the regional, national and international level, disseminating the role that Spain and Andalusia have played as a cultural bridge between East and West.
2. The Lebanese American University (LAU)-Louis Cardahi Foundation, is committed to education and knowledge, in fulfillment of its stated mission; and is dedicated to the research of Lebanese history and seeks to sustain Lebanon’s intercultural dialogue and connectivity with the confederation of the Euro-Mediterranean cities.
3. The Umayyad Digital Museum is one of the main tangible results of the Umayyad Route project (2013-2016); it is conceived in (2016) with the financial support of the EU funding ENPI-CBC MED program. The project involves 14 partners from Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In Lebanon, the partners are LAU, Byblos Municipality, Safadi Foundation, ministries of Culture and Tourism.

The re-inauguration of the Umayyad Museum took place on May 06, 2023 at LAU-Louis Cardahi Foundation.

• Program

- Marketing Project for Jbeil District

March 04, 2023 

The Union of Sustainable and Ecotourism Institution in Lebanon (USEIL) in collaboration with the Tourism Committee of Jbeil and La Maison du Tourisme Byblos and the Lebanese American University (LAU-Byblos) are please to invite you to discuss the proposed marketing project for Jbeil district which aims to highlight the tourism components of Jbeil Institutions/NGOs/initiatives. www.hospitalityservices.me

The Lebanese American University - LAU and the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism launch the Euro Mediterranean Intercultural Dialogue Forum in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Agriculture, the European Institute of Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, 4 Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (The Phoenicians’ Route, The Routes of the Olive Tree, The Wine Route, The Umayyad Route). With the participation of the Ministry of Foreign affairs, and Ministry of Environment.

 

The Forum will focus on enhancing the joint mission of the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism and the Lebanese American University to disseminate knowledge about the history of Lebanon and will seek to sustain Lebanon’s Intercultural Dialogue.

 

The program included the following activities:

1. Celebration of Lebanon, the 35th Member State of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

2. Announcement of the Intercultural Dialogue Academy for Lebanon.

3. The inauguration of the Phoenicians’ Route Museum in the historical district of Municipality of Jounieh.

4. To celebrate Bkassine declaration as one of the best tourist villages in the world, as part of the initiative of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

 

Detailed program.

 

- “Femme Multiple, Femme Plurielle”

March 05, 2022

A lecture at LAU-LCF “Femme Multiple, Femme Plurielle” by Greta Naufal, artist and academic teacher at LAU Beirut. She spoke about Etel Adnan, her personal relation with her and the artistic work of the late Lebanese artist. Then she spoke about other women artists who inspired her, showing that women are full of love, passionate, protective, revolted, engaged, militant, sometimes forgotten and other times celebrated. She showed how she was impressed along her artist life by her feminine identity, her complexity, her dualities, her fragilities and her strength.

- Regional Urbanism and UNESCO World heritage List

April 29, 2021

In the frame of the Regional Urbanism Course offered by the Architecture Department of LAU, Dr. George Zouain, an international cultural heritage expert, gave a Lecture and follow-up to the students’ work on Thursday 29 April at LAU-LCF. The Instructor, Juliana Najem Sfeir, organized this lecture in order for the students to have a deeper understanding of the Wadi Qannoubin/Arz El-Rabb and 22 Crown Villages of Bcharre District, Case Study of the Spring 2021 semester.