{"id":350354,"date":"2025-12-18T23:40:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/fourteen-years-after-gaddafis-fall-libya-reopens-its-national-museum-to-much-fanfare\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:40:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:40:41","slug":"fourteen-years-after-gaddafis-fall-libya-reopens-its-national-museum-to-much-fanfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=350354","title":{"rendered":"Fourteen Years After Gaddafi’s Fall, Libya Reopens Its National Museum to Much Fanfare"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Among the museum\u2019s artifacts, which were hidden during the long closure, are a 5,400-year-old mummy and remnants from the Roman Empire\u2019s North African cities<\/h2>\n
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\n \"Christian\n <\/div>\n
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Christian Thorsberg<\/a><\/p>\n

– Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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People look on as fireworks light up the sky during the reopening ceremony of the National Museum in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on December 12, 2025.
\n Mahmud Turkia \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/span>
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In a ceremony marked by fireworks, acrobats, dancers and a full-size orchestra, large crowds and Libya\u2019s top officials came together last week to celebrate the reopening of the country\u2019s massive National Museum<\/a>, which had sat closed on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea for more than 14 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond just a celebration of the arts, leaders have heralded the re-emergence of the country\u2019s largest museum as a new chapter in the history of Libya.<\/p>\n

Diplomats and celebrities watched the spectacle from Tripoli\u2019s Martyrs’ Square, once called Green Square, which more than a decade before had been filled with protestors and militias as the country\u2019s Arab Spring movement took hold. The institution shuttered in 2011, the same year that former dictator Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed. Some of the museum\u2019s final patrons were armed men who incorrectly believed a secret tunnel was accessible inside and vandalized a turquoise Volkswagen Beetle<\/a> belonging to the fallen leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reopening of the National Museum is not just a cultural moment but a live testimony that Libya is building its institutions,\u201d Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbiebah said in an address at the ceremony, before wielding a stick and officially opening the museum\u2019s doors.<\/p>\n

Formerly known as As-Saraya Al-Hamra, or the Red Castle, the building\u2019s nearly 110,000 square feet of gallery space will house artifacts spanning 5,000 years of North African history. Mosaics, coins, sculptures, rock art and murals from Libya\u2019s prehistory\u2014including Roman, Greek and Islamic periods\u2014are poised to be on display.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friezes and statues from Leptis Magna and Sabratha, UNESCO World Heritage Sites<\/a> and some of the best-preserved cities from the Roman Empire\u2019s expansion into what is now Libya, will be on view.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Quick fact: The timeline of reopening<\/h4>\n