{"id":45068,"date":"2014-07-03T08:05:15","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T06:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.area-arch.it\/en\/departement-des-arts-de-lislam\/"},"modified":"2017-09-18T17:47:04","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T15:47:04","slug":"departement-des-arts-de-lislam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.area-arch.it\/en\/departement-des-arts-de-lislam\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00e9partement des arts de l\u2018Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Covering the Visconti Court with a glazed structure would be a solution typical for the national 20th century architecture for this area which has been left open until now. To change this court with an extraneous architectural volume would mean to irreversibly leave the facades, which do not receive much light as it is, in half-shade. To divide the Islamic Art collection over several floors would mean to contribute, with the museum design, to the disruption of the identity of its narration. To build mezzanines inside the court would unjustly evoke the consumer-oriented culture of department stores.\u00a0<\/span>To definitively confine the Oriental treasures within the four walls of a closed court which bears witness to French stylistic epics would also conceptually evoke an untimely aspiration towards confining Islamic culture as such. The West is always right, but this is not the approach of the Louvre.\u00a0<\/span>We may envisage another attitude which, in a less massive and more graceful way, offers Islam a warm welcome in a manner not unlike that of Montesquieu\u2019s outstretched hand to the Persian visitor to Paris.\u00a0<\/span>The Cour Visconti will not be covered, but will remain in view; this is the architectural decision which is forcefully asserted by the architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti, in\u00a0<\/span>a pursuit of\u00a0 <\/span>gentle integration without violence, between a decidedly contemporary architectural project and\u00a0<\/span>a historical site.\u00a0<\/span>Considering that the area below ground is the only available resource and that the Louvre already vaunts a tradition in the exploitation of the space below ground, it is yet again a matter of not losing this opportunity. On the other hand the two facades of the Daru gallery enjoy the benefit of pretty windows and thus the contact with the exterior, providing the visitors with a natural shelter from which they may observe the rain, the sky, the sun and daylight, which is especially fascinating in Paris in winter, when it is snowing; in short, all this is a rare privilege at the Louvre.\u00a0<\/span>To cover the court would mean to irremediably upset the equilibrium of the Samothrace gallery and to create a desecrating semantic vicinity between Greek-Roman and Islamic art. This project aims to fight against a damnation which would seem to martyrize all the adventure, architectural and artistic heritage of Islam in a sole onslaught without any trace of doubt as conceptual intuition.\u00a0<\/span>The collection will be presented on an area of 3,000 sqm, distributed only over two floors. The first \u2013 on the level of the court \u2013 will feature the works from the period between the 7th and 10th century; the second \u2013 in the basement or on what we may define the \u201cnew\u201d ground floor \u2013 will house works from between the 11th and 14th century with the prestigious collection of carpets.\u00a0<\/span>The new museum spaces are covered by a Luminous Veil which will float delicately above the museum interior, filtering a discrete and diffused illumination. The visitors inside the new museum space will be able to see the facades of the court, and to admire the effects of the folds and waves of the roof, which will give the entire aggregate a poetic charm.\u00a0<\/span>The visitor, coming from the Pyramid, will arrive on the lowest floor of the Aile du Man\u00e8ge (west), on the same level as the Cour Visconti; instead of ascending the escalators to the upper level, he will be intrigued by the spectacular view of the Veil which animates the court with its innovative design; it is the entrance to the new Department of Islamic Art.\u00a0<\/span>The exhibition itinerary forms a perfect circuit without any superfluous circulation. The other collections distributed around the court will be made to interact with the collections of Islamic art thanks to the connection with the three areas of antiquity, Pre-classic Greece, Coptic Egypt and Roman Egypt.\u00a0<\/span>The exhibition design avoids any fragmentation of the space in favour of a continuous itinerary. The absence of interruptions in the smooth progress of the visit will underscore the presence of a red thread, where the only interruption is the time spent in front of the objects, the decisions to pause and meditate which are facilitated by the project.\u00a0<\/span>Natural light will enter every part of the interior through the Veil, which will be layered so as to allow a regulation of the intensity and avoid blinding. In midsummer the intensity of the light inside the exhibition rooms will not exceed the level of lux required for a good preservation of the exhibits and the comfort of the visitors.\u00a0<\/span>It will be possible to see the Veil from numerous points on the lower floor, thanks to the openings which will be created along the perimeter of the court, thus confirming the role of the Veil as unifying element of the collections.\u00a0<\/span>The roof consists of a spatial metal structure covered by two skins, a glazed outer surface and an interior ceiling surface. To create a light, translucent texture, particular attention has been dedicated to the morphological and chromatic study: round tubes to achieve soft shades and a light colour to make the structure less imposing.\u00a0<\/span>The thickness of the roof is variable, also depending on structural requirements. <\/span><\/p>\n