When the blast occurred, the glass vessels shattered into hundreds of tiny shards, leaving most of them damaged. However, now the painstaking job of putting the pieces back together will be done at the British Museum’s conservation labs in London.

While most of the artefacts were shattered beyond repair, the teams will salvage only 15 pieces. Out of these, only eight are safe to travel to the British Museum to be conserved. After the restoration work is done, the works will go on view at the British Museum in a temporary exhibition before returning to Beirut.

Claire Cuyaubère, a conservator from the French Institut National du Patrimoine helped in collecting and categorize the pieces of ancient glass from the mixed debris, which included glass from the display case and surrounding windows, after the blast. The artefacts were displayed in a glass case including 74 Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic-era glass vessels. She returned to Beirut to identify and match broken shards from each vessel, and identify those suitable for shipment to London.

Talking about the restoration work, Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, in a statement said, “Like the rest of the world, we looked on in horror at the devastating scenes in Beirut in August last year. We immediately offered the assistance of the British Museum to colleagues in the city. As we mark one year since the tragedy, we’re pleased to be able to provide the expertise and resources of the British Museum to restore these important ancient objects so they can be enjoyed in Lebanon for many more years to come.”