São Paulo – The inauguration of the new Islamic art wing at Paris’ Louvre Museum is scheduled for Tuesday (18). The opening ceremony should include the presence of French president François Hollande. Some 3,000 of the museum’s Islamic works of art will be shown. The Louvre has a collection of 18,000 items covering a period of 1,300 years, among them sculpted vases, paintings, sculptures, dishes, mortuaries, trunks and carpets. The opening to the public will take place on Saturday.
The space should cover 5,000 square metres in an internal patio with different architecture from that of the classic façades of the Louvre. The roofing on this wing will be in a wavy steel and glass structure inspired on the veils of Muslim women.
It should allow the entrance of light into the ground level, where the works made between the 7th and 10th centuries AD may be viewed. In the underground level will be the works made between the 11th and 19th Centuries. The project consumed over US$ 100 million.
*Translated by Mark Ament
