Organizers of a major exhibition say they hope their 'Art of the Islamic Civilization' show which opens Friday at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale may help to bridge differences heightened in today's tense geopolitical world.
"Art is the best ambassador of these cultures and civilisations, now over a thousand years old," says a statement written for the exhibition at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale.
"The rich and varied Al-Sabah Collection...will allow visitors to explore an art that is multi-faceted, rich, elegant, sophisticated and in many ways a true surprise - a challenge to foster dialogue and understanding, and at the same time a discovery of outstanding value".
More than 300 works of historic Islamic art, tracing a long and storied history of the region that is today Kuwait, have been drawn from the Al-Sabah Kuwait collection and will be on display until September 20. The pieces, some dating back more than a millenium, were collected over about 40 years by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah.
Some pieces have survived wars in the region, including the 1990 US-led coalition war in Iraq, according to the exhibition organizers.
That speaks to the role of art in understanding civilization, organizers suggest.
"The world is wondering how to respond to the dramatic and violent reality that surrounds us, and 'men and women of good will' ceaselessly seek out and travel a path made of dialogue and of understanding despite their differences, which are indeed never denied; if anything, they are perceived as an important value". The collection is shown in two distinct parts, with the first, in a chronological order, following the development and growth in the Islamic art, arising from the influences of the great historic empires of Byzantium and Persia.
This aims to illustrate the culture's beginnings and its formative years leading to the three great 16th century empires that were to become fully-fledged political and cultural giants on the world stage: the Turkish Ottoman empire in the Mediterranean; the Iranian Safavid empire; and the Indian Mughal empire with its fairy-tale opulence, reads the catalogue.
The second part of the exhibition examines themes of Islamic artistic experiences: the beautiful calligraphy, the suggestions of mathematical and geometric forms; the endless variations in the pattern of arabesques; the floral motifs; stylized representations of figures.
The exhibition was organised in collaboration with Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, the National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters in Kuwait.
The couple's entire collection of Islamic art, and art of the Middle East that predates Islam, included about 35,000 items and has been described by the Scuderie as on of the world's most important in terms of both its size and quality and the originality of the works of art it contains.
The collection was placed on permanent loan to the Kuwait National Museum in February 1983, to mark Kuwait's National Day.
However, it was moved at the time of the Iraqi invasion in August 1990 in an attempt to protect the valuable pieces.
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