MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART

The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), which had a spectacular and well-conducted scenography by Wilmotte, has been closed for two years and will be renovated in September 2022, just before the kick-off of the World Cup. Inside, in addition to the museum, there is a gift shop, the IDAM restaurant (by French chef Alain Ducasse) and the MIA café. Qatar wants to surprise, and even dazzle, with this new permanent exhibition in preparation, and for the moment, little information is filtering out about its content. We can mention some key pieces that will probably be preserved.

The building.

In the year 2000, Ieoh Ming Pei, in front of the pavilion of ablutions built in the thirteenth century within the mosque Ahmad Ibn Touloun in Cairo, makes meet the balance of geometry and light. A kind of alliance of the desert and the sun, a purification. "A cubist work", says Pei, about this building commissioned by Sultan Lajin. It is a dome supported by an octagonal drum resting on a square base, with four arched entrances and a fountain for ablutions in the center. In 2008, the building of the Museum of Islamic Arts is inaugurated and the spectacle of beauty is obvious: a universal classic is born, child of the Gropius workshop and a Cairo fountain, a complex form surmounted by a circular, then octagonal, then quadrangular luminous well, a delicate fortress of French sandstone, pierced by rare visible openings but provided with a monumental bay window on the sea side. All around, the MIA park, a work of art in its own right, open day and night with numerous games and activities for the whole family, a work of art by Richard Serra and relaxing green lawns.

The Collection.

It exhibits nearly 600 objects of Islamic art, foremost among them a superb 10th-century Spanish bronze horse, rare Iranian rugs, an impressive collection of copper astrolabes, and a wealth of Indian jewelry. A dark wood from Brazil alternates with polished, striated or layered porphyry from Argentina. Sober central display cases put the objects at viewing height and allow them to be seen from all angles. The option chosen for the second floor is a thematic display, while the second floor emphasizes chronology, from Umayyad Spain to Ayyubid Egypt, from the Iran of Tamerlane to the India of Shah Jahan. "A room has been specially set up on the theme of the figure," emphasizes the museum director, to contradict the received idea that Islamic art is only abstract. One comes across hunting scenes from Persian manuscripts as well as leopards scattered on an Indian carpet. The richness of the collections, gathered over a period of ten years, leaves one breathless.

The Book of Secrets in the results of the ideas in interactive digital version. "This manuscript was copied in 1266 in Toledo from an eleventh-century original by the Andalusian engineer Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi. This single copy is kept in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence. "It is a rare source for those who study ancient Arabic technology to which research on Renaissance inventions such as those of Leonardo da Vinci refers," says Massimiliano Lisa of the Italian research center Leonardo3. The manuscript is of Arabic origin. It migrated from Spain to Italy and now it is returning to the Muslim world through this permanent exhibition in Doha. This work is a testament to the importance of technology in showcasing cultural property, with animated three-dimensional models and a holographic touch screen."

Imperial decree, or firman, of Soleïman the Magnificent. Turkey (1559).

"In this edict written in Ottoman Turkish, Suleiman the Magnificent ceded a palace in Istanbul to his granddaughter. The text begins with an invocatory formula and ends with the signatures of the witnesses. The tughra, the signature of the sovereign, occupies a central place: it is of an impressive size and abundantly ornamented. Originally intended to represent the hand of the sultan through a thumb and three fingers, the tughra evolved from a rudimentary form to an abstract and sophisticated configuration. The tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent - who ruled from 1520 to 1566 - is one of the most beautiful. At first it resembled that of his father, but eventually it became different. Here, the ultramarine blue letters are underlined with gold; the verticals, curves, loops and interlacing, executed with a confident hand, give the tughra a musical rhythm, while the different compartments of this calligraphic composition are lined with delicate shoots, spiral leafy branches and small flowers which, although in different shapes, are in harmony. The paper is dotted with large blue dots, and the lines of text appear in gold or black behind a golden dotted line. The impressive tughra, the elegance of the divani (Ottoman chancery script), the gold used, the substantial size of the scroll, and the prominence of the few lines of text give this document a great deal of majesty and turn an official paper into a work of art."

Amulet, India, dated AH 1041 / AD 1632.

"The white jade has been polished: it is smooth to the touch. It bears an elegantly calligraphed inscription in nasta'liq. Engraved into the white jade, it creates a subtle white-on-white effect, barely perceptible but present on three sides of the amulet, on the front, back and bottom. It consists of Quranic verses; it also indicates the name and titles of Shah Jahan and the year 1041 (1631-1632). This haldidi, a type of pendant believed to help calm the wearer's "heartbeat," was made a few months after the death of Mumtaz Mahal, the emperor's wife, who immortalized his love for her by building her a magnificent mausoleum, the Taj Mahal."

Cup, Iraq (probably Basra), 9th century.

"This bowl is of an extraordinary minimalism. Its only decoration is a line of calligraphy that stretches across only half of its surface. It is a striking effect. This very aerial writing plunges the cup into a deep silence, partly due to the particular place given to the "void". "ma 'oumila salouha" ("What was done was worth it"), says the sentence in cobalt blue, written in kufic characters. The removed line vibrates at the end of the letters, and turns into a foliated pattern. In the early 9th century, Muslim potters were fascinated by Chinese porcelain. The potters of Basra, a ceramics center renowned for the quality of its production, had the ingenious idea of covering their modest ceramics with an opaque glaze to give it a more refined appearance. But the real innovation was the introduction of cobalt blue decorations on a white background. They were thus at the origin of the "blue and white" ceramics that flourished in the hands of Chinese potters a few centuries later."

Hind, fountain mouth, Spain, mid 10th century.

"This beautiful deer, with its peaceful attitude and pensive gaze, probably originated in a 10th century Andalusian palace. There, water must have cascaded from its heart-shaped mouth. A rather similar deer has been found in the ruins of Madinat al-Zahra (near Cordoba), and it is possible that both adorned the same fountain. In Islamic palaces, fountains are very important architectural elements. A fountain with a doe and a stag must have had a highly symbolic function, because the association of these two animals, male and female, represents in mystical thought the union of men and women in their spiritual journey. The sculptural quality of this doe, especially its head, is astonishing. No naturalism, but a stylized form that captures the essential features of the animal. The abstract dimension, which lends the animal its stylized form, is reinforced by a decoration of arabesques: the lines undulate, forming a regular pattern based on half-palmettes encircled

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