… to “draw a veil over artistic neglect” …
It is known as the Veil and is described by its architects as a giant glass Muslim headscarf in the heart of Paris. The former French president Jacques Chirac saw it as one way to avert a clash of civilisations in the run-up to the Iraq war. President Nicolas Sarkozy calls it the symbol of France’s friendship with the Arab world.
The Louvre’s bold new Islamic art wing had its first stone laid by Sarkozy yesterday , launching the museum’s most daring project since IM Pei created the giant glass pyramid 20 years ago. The world’s most visited museum will have Europe’s biggest purpose-built exhibition space for an Islamic art collection, which France hopes will reconcile the secular republic with the world of Islamic heritage.
I’m starting to think Sarkozy is not OUR guy after all. Remember that France wasn’t just built on secularism, it was built on a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth, string-up-the-priests brand of virulent secularism that makes Hitchens look like a drunk kitten.
So how have we gone from the revolutionary secularism embodied by France’s Jean Meslier:
«Je voudrais, et ce sera le dernier et le plus ardent de mes souhaits, je voudrais que le dernier des rois fût étranglé avec les boyaux du dernier prêtre.»
I would like, and this would be the last and most ardent of my wishes, I would like the last of the kings to be strangled by the guts of the last priest
To the weak-kneed Sarkozy and his molly coddling of pig headed solipsists in silly dresses?
France wants peace, it does not want a clash of civilisations between east and west
The motive is so naked, and pathetic. Usually with this kind of story, you need to read into it and guess or impugn someone’s motives. But not here. It’s blatant appeasement. From the veil’s architect, Rudy Ricciotti:
It is important for France, with a Muslim population of 5 million, to create something that speaks directly to the presence of Muslims in this country. This is a political museum in the noble sense of the term, in that the secular republic recognises all its people.
Sarkozy again – here speaking to Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - also on hand for the event:
«L’islam a porté l’une des plus anciennes et plus prestigieuses civilisations dans le monde … C’est l’occasion pour les Français et tous les visiteurs du Louvre de voir que l’islam, c’est le progrès, la science, la finesse, la modernité et que le fanatisme au nom de l’islam est un dévoiement de l’islam.»
Islam carried with it the most ancient and most prestigious civilizations in the world … This [exhibit] is the occasion for the French and all the visitors to the Louvre to see that Islam is progress, science, finesse, modernity, and that fanaticism in the name of Islam is a deviation from Islam.
Uhh, the Hagia Sophia is currently a museum, not a mosque.
The Hagia Sophia was once a church that was converted into a mosque. The Turks later converted the mosque into its current museum form to appeal to both Muslim and Christian tourists to Istanbul.
Not so with the Mezquita is Spain. Originally a mosque, that was converted into a church, and still is. Only Catholics may perform prayer there to this day (No Protestants, Muslims, Hindu’s, etc.).
Please perform more research before you post.
[...] A giant glass Muslim headscarf in the heart of Paris. [...]