World culture: New department “The Art of Islam” opened in Louvre

September 18, 2012 at the Louvre (Paris), opened a new department, "The Art of Islam." According to the French President, François Hollande, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the new pavilion, the preservation of this multifaceted heritage is the most important task for all humanity.

Exposure of "The Art of Islam" is housed in the specially built pavilion in one of the courtyards of the museum. The pavilion of 3 million square meters in the Visconti courtyard, where the original glass roof was erected, features about three thousand items from the vast collection of the Louvre of over 18,000 works of art from Muslim countries. The exhibition covers the historical period from the 7th to the 18th century, and its geography stretches from Spain to India, which intends to emphasize the diversity of the Islamic world.

The decision to organize in the Louvre a particular exposition, devoted to the art of Islam, was made in 2003 under the support of President Jacques Chirac. The first stone of the exhibition hall and the new department was laid by his successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2008. The project of the construction of a new hall was carried out by the French authorities under the support of Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.