Just over a month since I arrived in Luxor and I'm finally getting around to my final post about the process of arriving! In April of this year I made a small donation to the fundraising campaign for "Trésors du Caire". The project revolved around restoring two treasures for installation in the new "Arts de l'Islam" department of the Louvre: a mashrabiya and a Mamlouk porch. Here is a video from the Louvre that was produced to encourage donations to the two projects:
Here is a another video from the Louvre which discusses the restoration process for the porch (in French, but you'll catch the drift):
Louvre Museum: In Search of a Mamlouk Porch from
ikono tv on
Vimeo.
For more videos including this one, all with English subtitles, click on the following links:
The New Islamic Art Department: Behind the Scenes
The New Islamic Art Department:The Collections
The New Islamic Art Department: The New Department
The New Islamic Art Department: Architecture
And in August I received an invitation to visit the Louvre and particularly the new department gratis between it opening date of September 22 and December 15. Well, guess who was going to be in Paris in October and thus able to take advantage of the offer?
Here are the front and back of the invitation:
October 13 was a rainy Paris day, which made it perfect for visiting a museum:
I spent over three hours in the department and I barely scraped the surface of the two levels of extraordinary items. While the layout is a bit confusing, the displays themselves are excellent. And the design of the space really works. Here are just a few examples of both architecture and displays:
And here are photos of the Mamlouk porch which has been installed as a passage between two sections of the display space:
My name on the video display of the list of donors!
Here is the fully restored mashrabiya:
By the end of my visit I was suffering from the MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) effect, but I shall return as often as possible to be able to examine individual items and sections more thoroughly.
On my way out of the museum I caught this interesting juxtaposition:
The old encompassing the modern surrounding the recent--an untitled piece in laser-sculpted stainless steel by Belgian artist Wm. Delvoye. The whole a fitting image of the Louvre itself!
