On August 4, 2020, about a month before Nadine Panayot was set to take over as the curator of the Archeological Museum at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the capital city of Lebanon was rocked by a devastating explosion of ammonium nitrate at the Port of Beirut. The catastrophic event caused an estimated 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and billions of dollars in property damages. The blast was so powerful that it was felt as far as Cyprus, and the streets of Beirut were covered in glass from shattered windows….
