I spent some time this summer roaming around WW I battlefields in Northern France. The Western front line passes right through there, and since this particular part of history has my interest, we visited a few museums.
A standard part of these museums is the ‘authentic’ battlefield; you can walk through the trenches, visit a dug-out, and roam around bomb craters where dusty dummies, dressed up in battle gear, are left for dead. The more sophisticated ones even have a night scene, with flashes (exploding bombs), or sound effects (explosions, screaming men etc).
Annemieke in front of a 'resistance base'.
And so maybe you can imagine my surprise when – while driving through Dahiyeh on my way to a plumber – I suddenly stumbled upon one of those ‘battle field scenes’. The sandbag dug-out, the camouflage netting, the military vehicle half stuck in a mount of dirt, the dead dummy; it was all there, just like in the WWI museums.
It turns out this was the ‘famous’ Hezbollah exhibition everyone has been talking about; the Spider’s Web Museum, which opened its doors last month during the commemoration of last year's summer war.
I was with a Dutch colleague and we went in. So what’s the verdict?
If you happen to stumble upon it, take a look. But I would not add it to the schedule of a ‘See Lebanon in 3 Days’ touring trip. It was a little amateuristic.
If you have a fairly balanced view of the situation in this area, this exhibition may not be a very good choice either. The display was a bit on the tacky side; the purpose too obvious, the hate very strong, and the propaganda blatant, but you should not forget that this museum is set in a neighborhood where more than 16,000 apartments were obliterated in 34 days time.
It does not have much informational value either, although you wonder where they get all this Israeli material from – they had collected an Israeli helmet from every single battalion, complete with date and place where captured.
Still, it has some theme park value, complete with a sound and light show around an Israeli tank in a bomb crater (yes, complete with dummies) and a martyr's oasis where (I suppose) fallen Hezbollah soldiers can be seen on tape saying goodbye.
It turns out this was the ‘famous’ Hezbollah exhibition everyone has been talking about; the Spider’s Web Museum, which opened its doors last month during the commemoration of last year's summer war.
I was with a Dutch colleague and we went in. So what’s the verdict?
If you happen to stumble upon it, take a look. But I would not add it to the schedule of a ‘See Lebanon in 3 Days’ touring trip. It was a little amateuristic.
If you have a fairly balanced view of the situation in this area, this exhibition may not be a very good choice either. The display was a bit on the tacky side; the purpose too obvious, the hate very strong, and the propaganda blatant, but you should not forget that this museum is set in a neighborhood where more than 16,000 apartments were obliterated in 34 days time.
It does not have much informational value either, although you wonder where they get all this Israeli material from – they had collected an Israeli helmet from every single battalion, complete with date and place where captured.
Still, it has some theme park value, complete with a sound and light show around an Israeli tank in a bomb crater (yes, complete with dummies) and a martyr's oasis where (I suppose) fallen Hezbollah soldiers can be seen on tape saying goodbye. What I thought it was interesting is that it gives you a glance into the mind frame that a large part of the Lebanese people are in at the moment. It is good to see things from a different perspective sometimes. Not everyone thought the exhibition was worth a visit. But we (Dutch colleague and I) would definitely recommend it, but only if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
Highlight was the computer game with Hezbollah soldiers going after the ‘zionist enemy’. For the moment only available in Arabic. The English version will follow in two months. Will keep you posted.
Oh, and don’t forget to visit the souvenir shop, where you can buy the ‘Hassan Nasrallah’ fragrance, with a ‘her’ and ‘him’ version.
Exhibition runs until September 10th.
2 comments:
i'm still wondering if the shoe at the entrance is the real shoe from the famous picture...
or how about the sound of crying babies that accompanied the images of Israeli soldier? no doubt about what they think of them...
such an interesting exhibition :)
Do you remember how Special Force was exhibited there? Was it just available to buy, or part of the display was devoted to it, or visitors could play it perhaps? I would be very, very grateful if you could get back to me, I cannot find anyone who seen the exhibition, and I am writing a paper about Hezbollah's cultural activity.
thank you! l.
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