Inaugurations No. 73 PARIS N E W S // SEPTEMBER 2012
Inaugurations No. 73 PARIS N E W S // SEPTEMBER 2012 There are lots of Inaugurations to keep up with in Paris in September: the Louvre opens its new Islamic Art Department to great fanfare and three hotels reopen after a full makeover. Tour guide specialists have come up with brand new tours: visits to workshops, boutiques, auction houses. And then there is a cashmere boutique and a concept restaurant … Have a good rentrée! Culture // Event at the Louvre: opening of the museum’s 8th department Twenty years after the huge pyramid project, the Louvre today sees the result of a ten-year project, which show- cases the Islamic Arts. Architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti have created 2,800 m2 of exhibition area in the Cour Visconti; this architectural masterpiece involved excavating to a depth of 12 metres within the heart of the historic palace of the royal kingdom of France, which dates back to the 12th century. Eight centuries later, a glass roof seems to float above one of the palace’s most ornate courtyards: this ‘dragonfly’s wing’ with its changing reflections of light is a remarkable technical feat of glass panels and metallic glass sheets composed of 2,350 triangles with a gold coloured effect that rest on a structure of eight fine pillars. The interior space is a light and airy exhibition space. Some 3,000 objects are presented to the public in this area specifically designed for them: wall of Ottoman tiles, Egyptian porch, carpets, boxes, carafes, paintings, ceramics, etc. The display of the collections by Renaud Piérard, closely linked to the architecture around it, forms a loop that presents the evolution of these Islamic Arts from the year 632 to 1800, in four large fluid parts.
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