The Louvre, Paris, is the lucky recipient of a donation of €17million (£11.7m/$20.5m) from Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked by Forbes as the world's fifth wealthiest person. The money, the largest donation ever to be received by the museum, is to go towards a new wing dedicated to Islamic art. This will give a permanent home to the museums ten thousand pieces of Islamic art, of which only about ten per cent are currently displayed. The prince also hopes it will help to increase understanding of Islamic culture in the West. The collection will be housed in a forty three thousand square foot gallery in the Cour Visconti, a large courtyard in the Louvre, which will quadruple the existing space for Islamic art.
Artefacts from the 7th to the 19th century will be displayed on the ground floor, while the lower level will contain light-sensitive objects, including the museum's Islamic rug collection. French President Jacques Chirac proposed remodelling the wing three years ago following the 11 September 2001 terror attacks with the aim of bridging the divide between East and West. The new wing is scheduled to be completed by 2009.
August 2005