The Louvre’s… New Department of Islamic Art…

Entering…

The Louvre‘s… main entrance…

By way… of I.M. Pei‘s…

Awesome… glass pyramid…

Which… has become…

As… iconic…

As the magnificent… Eiffel Tower…

The majestic… “Arc de Triomphe“…

We find ourselves… admiring the newly decorated Cour Visconti courtyard…

Stepping into the stunning… new galleries…

Home to the Louvre‘s… Department of Islamic Art…

Which have introduced an amazing… architectural structure…

Brilliantly designed by two architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti… the galleries consist of ground and lower-ground level spaces… with an undulating seemingly floating shimmering… golden steel roof… resembling an iridescent… “luminous veil”… which covers a space of 30 000 square feet… housing a collection of Islamic Art spanning a 1200 years of history… from the 7th to the 19th century…

Home to an unrivalled collection of Islamic Art… the largest in France and the most prestigious in the world… glass works… ceramics… metalworks… books… manuscripts… textiles… and carpets…

The Louvre audaciously called its galleries… “Islamic Art”… as opposed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s own new galleries dedicated to the arts of Islam called… “The Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia.”

Sophie Makariou… the Louvre’s director of Islamic Art explained that the name is in no way an oversimplification… saying…

“We were out to tell the history of these people. It’s as complicated as a textile. There are many different threads and a lot of different kinds of civilizations who built this world“.

The Louvre arranged its artifacts chronologically… from its own collection of around 15 000 pieces representing the Islamic world… from Spain to India… as well as from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs… 3400 works which are on permanent loan.

This worthy project had the unwavering approval of Jacques Chirac, the then president of France… who’s vision was to…

“Solidify its mission as a universal cultural institution, while underlining for France and the rest of the world the essential contributions made by Islamic civilizations to our culture,” to encourage a dialogue of cultures and civilizations.”

In 2008… at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Louvre’s new galleries dedicated to Islamic Art, the then President Sarkozy… emphasized the importance of such a gesture as a way to… “promote understanding between people’s and cultures“…

Henri Loyrette… who upon being named the Louvre’s director in 2001… was the first to observe that the Louvre did not have a separate department of Islamic art, despite it having “one of the richest collections of Islamic art in the world”… said recently that he did not want a separate museum for the Islamic works because they are… “so closely linked to our collection, and to Western art… they would be sorely missed were they not part of the Louvre.”

The design of Renaud Piérard… the architect and museographer who created the interiours of the ingenious new galleries… “will enable visitors to contextualize the works on display, situate them historically and geographically, decipher motifs and figures, and even test their own conclusions against those of specialists“.

Quintessentially… true…

That’s exactly… what we did…

The French state and the Louvre have contributed 30% of the overall department’s budget… but mostly it is through the support of the museum’s generous sponsors and donors that the Louvre’s new Department of Islamic Art has been made possible…  notably the projet’s first and main sponsor… His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud… actively involved from the project’s very inception… who with his donation of $20 million… makes it the largest single monetary gift ever given to the museum.

Several national governments thereafter lent their support to this major project… His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco… His Highness Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, in the name of the State of Kuwait… His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said, Sultan of Oman, and the Omani people… and the Republic of Azerbaijan… as well as support from major French corporations… Total – through its Foundation… and Lafarge… as well as many others.

It took ten years to create this valuable project… costing millions… which we felt… was worth every “centime“…

Spectacular…

It takes… Art and Culture…

To… bridge barriers…

Between different… peoples and cultures…

We… so wish…

For… peace

Through…

The power… the beauty…

Enlightenment…

Through…

The… interaction…

of… Art…

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