Aga
Khan Trust for Culture Collaborates with the Louvre
and Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris
Communiqué
de presse en français
Speeches:
Closing Address by His Highness the Aga Khan
at the "Musée-Musées"
Round Table (Louvre Museum - 17 October 2007)
Allocution de Clôture de Table Ronde "Musée-Musées"
par Son Altesse l’Aga Khan (Musée du Louvre - 17 Octobre 2007)
Video of the Inauguration of the Exhibition
“Chefs-d’œuvre islamiques de l’Aga Khan Museum”
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture is
collaborating with the Louvre on two exhibitions
of Islamic art in Paris, as well as with the Museum
of Decorative Arts, also in Paris.
Exhibitions
at the Louvre
Masterpieces
of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan Museum
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Prince
Amyn Aga Khan, Souren Melikian (curator of
a related exhibition,“Song of the World”
-- see below) and His Highness the
Aga Khan viewing objects from the Masterpieces
of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan Museum
exhibition at the Louvre, 17 October 2007. |
At the Louvre, the Trust has collaborated
in the preparation of an exhibition entitled "Masterpieces
of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan Museum".
As the opening event of a season devoted to the
arts and culture of the Muslim world, the Louvre
presents nearly 80 works from the collections of
the Aga Khan Museum in an exhibition curated by
Sophie Makariou.
The exhibition includes six rare folios from the
Shah-nameh (Book of the Kings) of Shah
Tahmasp, the most famous Persian manuscript of the
16th century. It also features magnificently preserved
medieval garments. Various examples of calligraphy
bear witness to the vitality of the artists of the
Islamic world ranging from India to Spain and from
the eighth to the nineteenth century.
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As
Eric Woerth, Minister of the Budget, Henri
Loyrette, President and Director of the Louvre
and Christine Albanel, Minister of Culture
and Communication look on, His Highness the
Aga Khan signs the official register for Heads
of State at the opening of the Exhibition
at the Louvre, 1 October 2007 |
The thematic conception of the exhibition groups
the works presented into four main parts:
• exchanges between the Islamic world, Europe
and the Far East;
• from figuration to narrative;
• architectural elements;
• from the Qur’an to the aesthetics
of calligraphy, including a section on the Shia
tradition.
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His
Highness the Aga Khan with former French Prime
Minister Édouard Balladur at the opening
of the "Masterpieces of Islamic Art from
the Aga Khan Museum" Exhibition at the
Louvre,
1 October 2007 |
The exhibition provides a preview of the treasures
that will be presented at the new Aga Khan Museum,
due to be inaugurated in Toronto in 2011. The exhibition
presents a model of the future museum, which has
been designed by renowned Japanese architect Fumihiko
Maki.
For exhibition times and other details,
please visit the Louvre website for information
in English
and Francais.
The
Song of the World - Iranian Safavid Art, 1501-1736
Several masterpieces from the Aga
Khan Museum collection, including two of the most
celebrated pages from the Houghton Shah-nameh
(Book of Kings), will also be on display in
another exhibition, "The Song of the
World - Iranian Safavid Art, 1501-1736"
(Le chant du monde - L’art de l’Iran
safavide, 1501-1736), which is running
from 5 October 2007 to 7 January 2008 in the Louvre's
Napoleon Hall. Curated by Professor Souren Melikian-Chirvani,
it is the most ambitious exhibition of Safavid art
ever to have been brought together, and is expected
to attract large numbers of visitors.
For exhibition times and other details,
please see the Louvre website for information in
English
and Francais.
Museum of Decorative Arts/Le
musée des arts décoratifs
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture is
also the main sponsor of an exhibition at the Museum
of Decorative Arts entitled “Purs
décors? Chefs d’oeuvre de l’Islam
aux Arts Décoratifs” (Pure decoration?
Islamic masterpieces at the Decorative Arts Museum),
which will run from 11 October 2007 to 13 January
2008.
The museum has an outstanding collection of over
3,000 works of Islamic Art, including carpets, textiles,
ceramics and miniatures. The exhibition is designed
to question the artificial distinction between "fine"
arts and "decorative" or "applied"
arts – a differentiation particularly impossible
to make in the field of Islamic art. When the show
is over, almost the whole collection will be handed
over on loan to the Louvre.
For exhibition times and other details,
please see information in English
and Francais.
Exhibition
Catalogues
All three exhibitions have very attractive catalogues,
which can be purchased from the Louvre and the Musée
des Arts Décoratifs.
For the Louvre exhibitions, please visit the on-line
store.
For the Museum of Decorative Arts catalogue, please
see the museum's website.
Additional
Information
His
Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (Spiritual Leader)
of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, is celebrating
his Golden Jubilee year from 11th July 2007
to 11 July 2008. Fifty years ago, at the age
of 20, the Aga Khan succeeded his grandfather, Sir
Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, as the 49th hereditary
Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The Aga
Khan provides spiritual guidance to a community
of 15 million living in some 25 countries, mainly
in West and Central Asia, Africa and the Middle
East, as well as in North America and Western Europe.
As Spiritual Leader of the Ismailis, the Aga Khan
has emphasised the view of Islam as a thinking,
spiritual faith, one that teaches compassion and
tolerance and that upholds the dignity of man,
Allah’s noblest creation. The Aga Khan
is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace
be upon him) through his cousin and son-in-law,
Ali, the first Imam, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet’s
daughter.
The exhibitions at the Louvre showcase the collection
of the Aga
Khan Museum, which will open in Toronto in 2011.
The museum is an initiative of His Highness the
Aga Khan, (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili
Muslims, who intends the museum to be a centre of
education and learning dedicated to the presentation
of Muslim arts and culture in all their historic,
cultural and geographical diversity. Surrounded
by a large landscaped park, the museum will be housed
in a 10,000 square-metre building designed by the
Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. The Aga Khan Museum
will offer unique insights and new perspectives
into Muslim civilisations.
The museum is part of AKTC’s wide range of
activities aimed at the preservation and promotion
of the material and spiritual heritage of Muslim
societies. As the cultural agency of the Aga
Khan Development Network (AKDN), AKTC leverages
cultural heritage as a means of supporting and catalysing
development. Its programmes include the
Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme, which works
to revitalise historic cities in the Muslim world -
both culturally and socioeconomically. Over the
last decade, it has rehabilitated historic areas
in Cairo, Kabul, Herat, Aleppo, Delhi, Zanzibar,
Mostar, the Northern Areas of Pakistan, Timbuktu
and Mopti. AKTC’s other programmes include
the Aga Khan
Award for Architecture, established 30
years ago to draw attention to outstanding examples
of architectural excellence as well as projects
which provide solutions for the most acute social
needs which exist in Muslim societies. AKTC also
supports the Muslim arts and architecture departments
of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), as well as ArchNet.org,
a major online resource on Islamic architecture.
The Aga Khan Development
Network (AKDN) is a group of private development
agencies working to empower communities and individuals,
often in disadvantaged circumstances, to improve
living conditions and opportunities, especially
in Central and South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The Network’s agencies work for the common
good of all citizens, regardless of their gender,
origin or religion. Its underlying impulse is the
ethic of compassion for the vulnerable in society.
Its annual budget for social and cultural development
activities is US$320 million. The
Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, an AKDN development
agency that makes long-term investments in fragile
economies on a for-profit basis, has annual revenues
of over US$ 1.5 billion. Profits are used
to fund further development projects.
Museum
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