Hidden amid the high-rises and bustle of downtown Beirut lies a remarkable relic: the Roman Baths, once part of the ancient city of Berytus. Built in the 1st century AD, this complex of hot springs, heated floors and marble halls served as both social centre and therapeutic space. Today, largely obscured and under-visited, it is undergoing a quiet transformation.

At the heart of this revival is the design exhibition Of Water & Stone, curated by Lebanese designer Nour Osseiran, which has turned the archaeological site into an open-air gallery. Twenty-one designers were invited to respond to the bathhouse’s architecture, its legacy of healing and ritual, and the interplay of marble, water and memory. Their installations—ranging from carved basins and hot-water jets to sculptural benches and symbolic bird-baths—are made largely in marble, a material chosen for its strength, fragility and capacity to hold memory.

The pieces are sited within the ancient remains: along the staircase bisecting the bath, on raised walkways above the hypocaust stacks, and among the terracotta pillars that once supported the heated flooring. In this way, the old and new converse: the carved marble objects echo the baths’ original function of cleansing, gathering and renewal, while also offering a contemporary reflection on how we inhabit, remember and care for shared spaces.

This year also marks a turning point: the main road leading to the baths has reopened, allowing the public once again to walk through the ruins, make contact with the site’s layered past and engage in its future. The exhibition thus becomes more than a display—it becomes an invitation. An invitation to reconnect with place, to uncover hidden histories, and to imagine a Beirut where design, heritage and community converge.

The Roman Baths’ revival is more than archaeological: it is cultural, social and symbolic. It suggests that ruins can be reclaimed not just as relics, but as living spaces. That marble and water—once parts of ancient luxuries—can become materials of renewal. And that the memory of a city, its rituals and its people, can be re-activated, not just preserved.