A living museum without walls, where Bchaaleh’s millennium olive trees, village traditions, and community life tell the story of olive culture across generations.
The Ecomuseum of Olive Tree Culture in Bchaaleh was born from the village’s deep relationship with its millennium olive trees, locally known as Noah’s Olive Trees.
The idea emerged after Bchaaleh hosted Lebanon’s first national celebration of Olive Tree Day in 2022, in collaboration with the Municipality of Bchaaleh and Bchaaleh Trails Association.
With the support of the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture, the Ecomuseum was developed as a living heritage experience dedicated to safeguarding the tangible and intangible culture connected to the olive tree.
As part of this process, intangible cultural heritage elements linked to olive culture in Bchaaleh were documented, helping to preserve local knowledge, practices, stories, and traditions for future generations.
Today, Bchaaleh Trails Association curates and manages the Ecomuseum experiences, connecting visitors with the village’s olive landscapes, oral traditions, agricultural knowledge, crafts, food heritage, spiritual landmarks, and community life.
Visiting the Ecomuseum of Olive Tree Culture is an immersive journey through Bchaaleh’s living heritage. It is not a visit to a single museum building, but an experience that unfolds across the village, its olive landscapes, its people, its stories, and its traditions.
Depending on the selected experience, visitors may walk among the millennium olive trees, hear local stories and legends, meet farmers and artisans, discover traditional olive-related practices, taste local products, and explore historic and spiritual landmarks.
Each visit offers a deeper understanding of how the olive tree continues to shape Bchaaleh’s identity, memory, and community life today.
The Ecomuseum of Olive Tree Culture in Bchaaleh is rooted in the living heritage connected to the olive tree, the village landscape, and the daily life of the community.
As part of the Ecomuseum’s development, intangible cultural heritage elements linked to olive culture in Bchaaleh were documented and organized under five domains: oral traditions and expressions, traditional craftsmanship, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, social practices and rituals, and performing arts.
Together, these elements reveal how the olive tree continues to shape Bchaaleh’s identity, memory, skills, celebrations, spirituality, hospitality, and relationship with the land.
Through the Ecomuseum, visitors discover the olive tree not only as a natural landmark, but as a living source of knowledge, culture, and community belonging.
The Ecomuseum can be explored through a selection of guided rural and cultural experiences curated by Bchaaleh Trails Association. Each experience offers a different way to discover the village’s olive culture, living heritage, local knowledge, and community hospitality.
