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July 28, 2005
Louvre Gets $20 Million for New Islamic Wing
By JOHN TAGLIABUE
PARIS, July 27 - In the largest gift ever to the world's largest museum, a Saudi prince agreed on Tuesday to donate $20 million to the construction of a wing for the Louvre's vast collection of Islamic art.
With considerable fanfare, the prince, Walid bin Talal, signed a donation agreement at the foot of the grand marble staircase leading to the Louvre's "Winged Victory" statue, with the French culture minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, and the president of the Louvre, Henri Loyrette, looking on.
The gift reflects France's complex relations with the Islamic world and a widening belief here that after 9/11, an increased appreciation of Islamic art can help bridge a cultural divide.
Without mentioning the recent terrorist bombings in London or the war in Iraq, where British troops are stationed along with American forces, Prince Walid said that "relations between Europe and the Islamic world are going through a turbulent period."
The new wing, he said, "will assist in the understanding of the true meaning of Islam, a religion of humanity, forgiveness and acceptance of other cultures."
"We should thank France," he said, "not France us."
The design for the new wing, unveiled at the ceremony, would involve covering much of the Louvre's Cour Visconti, a neo-Classical courtyard, with a contemporary sail-like roof made up of small glass disks. Officials put the total cost of the wing, by the architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti, at $67 million and predicted it would open in 2009.
Accepting the prince's $20 million gift, Mr. Donnedieu de Vabres said the Louvre was no longer just a museum. "It is by now an essential instrument for the dialogue of cultures and the preservation of their diversities," he said.
"In a world where violence expresses itself individually and collectively," he added, "where hate erupts and imposes its expression of terror, you dare to affirm the conviction that is yours - that is ours - that the dialogue of peoples and cultures, the richness of patrimonies, the values of sharing are the responses of intelligence to the bitter experience of conflicts."
Three of the collection's most valuable and unusual pieces were on display on the table where Prince Walid signed the donation document: a delicate 10th-century ivory box from Córdoba, Spain; a 14th-century vase from Granada; and a 14th-century bronze platter made in Egypt or Syria for the Sultan of Yemen.
Prince Walid later paid a visit to President Jacques Chirac. In a statement released after their meeting, Mr. Chirac said he was "particularly attached" to the Islamic art project because it would give "the exceptional collection of the Louvre the exposition space that it merits."
Mr. Chirac proposed the creation of a new Islamic department for the Louvre three years ago to underline, as he said then, "the essential contribution of Islamic civilizations to our culture." The idea that an increased appreciation of Islamic art can serve as a cultural bridge to minority communities in France, many of them Muslim, has since gained wide currency in French cultural circles.
Prince Walid is less well known in France as a benefactor of the arts than as a shrewd businessman. He has a 17 percent stake in EuroDisney, the company that runs the Disneyland Paris resort outside the city. And he is owner, through the Kingdom Holding Company, of several of the city's most luxurious hotels, including the George V, on the street of the same name.
Though his EuroDisney investment has been less fruitful, the prince gained a reputation for financial acumen by investing in Citicorp, a predecessor of the current Citigroup, when its stock was depressed in 1991. Today he is Citigroup's largest single shareholder, and his personal fortune is estimated at $23.7 billion.
The prince has a reputation beyond the Middle East as something of a political reformer. A nephew of King Fahd, and of Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's day-to-day ruler, Prince Walid is one of scores of grandsons of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdel Aziz. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, he proposed democratic elections in Saudi Arabia when few in his family would broach such a project publicly. He is a benefactor to the needy in the Muslim world and donates consistently to the Palestinian cause.
His political views have not always been well met in the West. In October 2001, his $10 million gift to a World Trade Center fund was rebuffed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani because of remarks made that month by the prince. His suggestion that United States policy may have been partly to blame for the attacks stirred anger among many Americans, including the mayor. The prince said later that he would divide his rejected donation equally among Afghan refugees and the Palestinians.
France is not alone in its renewed interest in Islamic art and culture. Last year, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London said it would present its rich Islamic collection in a new gallery by 2006. Much of the cost will be covered by a $9.7 million gift from Mohammed Jameel, the president of the Abdul Latif Jameel Group, a Saudi industrial conglomerate.
The Louvre is currently playing host to 30 objects of Islamic art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, whose Islamic galleries are closed for renovation.
The roof of the Louvre's new wing will cover most, though not all, of the courtyard and allow visitors to file from the museum to that outdoor space. Inside, the new wing will consist of two levels, including one below ground for objects that are highly sensitive to light.
From within, visitors will be able to look out through the glass roof to admire the walls of the courtyard, particularly the 17th-century one on the south side, toward the Seine.
Shown a model of the new wing, Prince Walid said it reminded him of a flying carpet made from an iridescent cloud.
The juxtaposition of the curving sail-like form with the courtyard's neo-Classical facades, from the 19th and 17th centuries, is likely to cause architectural controversy. The Visconti courtyard is virtually the only corner of the vast Louvre untouched by a latter-day renovation. The $67 million estimate for a separate Islamic wing was also drafted about three years ago. Aside from the prince's $20 million pledge, the French government has pledged $31 million, while the French oil company, Total, has agreed to put up $4.8 million and assemble a group of French companies to come up with the remaining money.
The Louvre's current galleries can display only about 1,300 artifacts out of an Islamic collection of roughly 10,000 objects. The rest are stored below ground. The new rooms will have about 36,000 square feet of display space, roughly four times the current amount, and will also allow for the display of objects now in the nearby Museum of Decorative Arts.
nytimes.com |
