Islamic Cartoon Row, Flying Carpet Hang Over Louvre

BUSINESS WEEK
By Jorg von Uthmann

The Louvre's Cour Visconti has a glass roof over the new Islamic wing.

FRANCE---Amid the furor over an anti-Islam video and new cartoons mocking the Prophet, the Louvre is opening a new wing devoted to Islamic Art. When New York’s Metropolitan Museum reopened its Islamic wing last November, after eight years of renovation, it had been rebaptized as “Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia.” The Paris museum, with its even bigger collection of Islamic art, wouldn’t dream of using such an unwieldy paraphrase. The new department, which opened to the public on Sep. 22, is simply called “Arts de l’Islam.” Because the Louvre is bursting at the seams, a courtyard, the Cour Visconti, has been transformed into a two-tiered exhibition space. [link]

 “Arts de l’Islam” is on permanent show at the Louvre, Place du Louvre, 75058 Paris. Information: +33-1-40-205050 or http://www.louvre.fr/en/opening-new-department-islamic-art