The Louvre's Islamic Galleries, A Mix of I.M. Pei and Magic Carpet, Get Set for Fall Debut

BLOUIN ARTINFO
By Kelly Chan

A rendering of the Louvre's new Islamic Art pavilion

FRANCE---In 1985, when I.M. Pei proposed his design for a 70-foot-tall glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, skeptics reacted in horror. The design was viewed as an apotheosis of modern glass-and-steel engineering and, to some, a flagrant affront to the Louvre’s neoclassical grandeur. But since the project’s completion in 1989, the Louvre courtyard, once a dismal parking lot, has become a cherished public gathering space and a popular tourist destination, attracting over 8.5 million visitors a year. Perhaps an even greater testament to the pyramid’s critical acceptance is the relative lack of uproar surrounding the first major architectural intervention at the Louvre since Pei’s makeover: a 150-ton undulating glass roof designed by architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti to hover over the museum’s new Arts of Islam gallery. [link]