British Museum plans to open two galleries for its Islamic artifacts

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Sunday 29 Mar 2015 - 10:48 Makkah mean time-9-6-1436 British Museum London, (IINA) - Art from the Islamic world will be shown in the heart of the British Museum in London, in two new galleries funded by a Malaysian foundation which hopes to offset the image created by extremist militants, Media sources reported. The museum, which houses one of the world's largest collections of art and artefacts, said it plans to open two new galleries in its south wing devoted to its extensive collection of art from the Islamic world. The two new galleries, which will complement the existing gallery, are being funded for an undisclosed amount by the Albukhary Foundation of Malaysia. Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, the foundation's chairman, said there was an urgent need to make people more aware of the value of art and artefacts from the Islamic world, and the threats to this cultural heritage, especially at a time when historic sites in Iraq are under attack by extremist. "What is happening in the world, demolishing all the Islamic heritage, non-Islamic antiquities, is a bad image," he told Reuters on Thursday. The new project of Islamic artifacts is not the first to shed light on the Islamic heritage by the British Museum. In April 2012, the museum hosted the world's largest exhibition on the Muslim Hajj, with an eye to enhancing understanding of the Islamic spiritual experience. The exhibition displayed archaeological material, manuscripts, textiles historic photographs and contemporary art that document journeys to the holy lands through history. The decision followed what the museum said was the extraordinary success of its 2012 exhibition "Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam" which director Neil MacGregor said had attracted almost 150,000 visitors. "There was clearly a huge hunger in the public in Britain to know more about the cultures of the Islamic world," MacGregor told a news conference. "That started us thinking very hard about the importance about thinking about the Islamic world in this way." Venetia Porter, the lead curator on the project, said that for the first time the museum would be showing the links between its Islamic collection and its core collection from Europe. "The really important thing is to actually put this Islamic collection right in the heart of the museum," she said. The museum also said it would bolster its support for curators from Iraq to develop techniques of what it called "Emergency Heritage Management" to protect artefacts from being looted or damaged, and to restore those that have been vandalized. SM/IINA