Paris, 24 September 2012
The Louvre was praised after opening its gallery of Islamic art, now the Indians would also like to popularise their art and see it exhibited at others museums worldwide.
According to Rajan Zed, spokesman of India, this gallery is “a step in a good direction” that would allow this very rich culture, often unrecognised, to be discovered by the public. Moreover, the dialogue which started thanks to the galleries of Islamic art in the international museums, helps to create trust and get rid of the prejudices that follow the community all around the world. Mr Zed, director of the Universal Society of Hinduism, is asking the world’s great museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Getty Center, Prado Museum, the London Tate Modern, etc.), to reproduce the Louvre’s initiative.
The Louvre gallery of Islamic arts, mainly sponsored by the State, has been exhibiting since 22 September an important collection of Islamic art; the achievement of the project took almost ten years and cost almost €100,000.000. From now on the public can appreciate 3,000 objects of Islamic art from among 18,000 actually owned by the Louvre. The collection reflects almost 1,300 years of history on the three continents and goes back to the 7th century.