Vatican partners with Islamic museum for unique exhibition. For the first time ever, the Vatican is staging an unusual exhibition in the Emirate of Shajah. The show is seen as a sign of openness and cooperation between religions.
Ulrike al-Khamis has outdone herself. In a project that began six years ago, the art historian from Germany was tasked with bringing the extensive collections of the Emir of Sharjah into shape when the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization was renovated and re-opened. The exhibition she is now presenting in a sparkling domed building almost the size of a soccer field has exceeded expectations.
“It is the first collaboration of the Vatican with an Arab country,” said al-Khamis. Indeed, the exhibition is one-of-a-kind – not only because it presents excellent artworks but also because it furthers dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
A mashup of Western arts, Islam and Buddhism
The artworks on show from the Ethnological Museum of the Vatican stem from the 12th to the 19th century, but also include valuable objects from everyday life in the Arab world. Vases and bracelets, seals and armor, tapestries and precious daggers are on display. All the works come from the Islamic region between Morocco and Sudan all the way to Western China, but are now owned by the Vatican.
Many of the objects embody the dialogue between the Muslim and Western worlds. There’s a dime-sized Koran produced in a print shop in Glasgow, and yellow mugs from Western China that bear an Arabic inscription surrounded by lotus flowers, which are a Buddhist symbol.
“We had only one year to prepare this show,” said Ulrike al-Khamis. When the German art expert began advising in Sharjah, one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, she did not know what she was getting herself into.
“I traveled to Rome with my colleagues. We, the experts from Sharjah, and some Christian art historians searched the chambers of the Vatican together and discovered several pieces that had never been exhibited before,” she recalled.
The result is a unique show in Sharjah that presents a comprehensive look at Islam.
“So that you may know each other” is the fitting title of the exhibition
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