The world famous Louvre Museum in Paris will hold an exhibition of Islamic artifacts at the National Museum here next January, according to Erick Pinon, cultural attaché at the French Embassy.
Pinon said Prince Waleed bin Talal, chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company, donated a gift of $20 million to the Louvre as part of his effort to promote Islam in the West, the Arab News reported here today.
“The exhibition in the capital will be a major step in the cultural relations between Paris and Riyadh,” Pinon said, adding that such activities could bring the two countries still closer.
France intends to display the masterpieces from its collections of Arabic and Islamic artifacts.
The upcoming show is being arranged by the Musee du Louvre and the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT), in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities and Museums and the National Museum located at the King Abdulaziz Historical Center. An agreement for the exhibition was signed between SCT Secretary General, Prince Sultan bin Salman and Secretary General of the Louvre, Henri Loyrette in Riyadh recently.
“The French are deeply appreciative of the contributions made by the members of the royal family towards developing Islam in France,” Pinon said, recalling that two months ago the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz during his visit as crown prince had donated one million euros to the Arab World Institute in France.
Pinon pointed out that the Kingdom has signed cooperation agreements with France for various educational programs. Under the programs, Saudi Arabia is to send 50 students in November to pursue medical studies in more than 15 French universities. “The seven-year graduate program funded by the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education is the first of its kind to be implemented in France,” Pinon said, adding that plans are underway for a postgraduate program as well for Saudi graduates.
In a related development, the French Embassy has selected a group of seven Saudi students to follow graduate courses in political science beginning in September.
“These students will be studying in a new department meant for political science with a special emphasis on Middle Eastern politics,” Pinon said. The new department, which will function under the Paris School of Politics, is located in Menton, south of France. These students will join other foreign students to pursue their studies in political science relevant to their region.
Several programs with bilingual teaching (French and English) have been set up between Saudi and French universities to facilitate access to the most prestigious French institutions for Saudi students. They include major engineering schools such as Ecole des Mines, Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, main business schools and the Paris School of Political Science (IEP).
In the field of archaeology, a Saudi-French team led by Professor Jean-Marie Dentzer, member of the French Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres, and Dr. Laila Nehme, an archaeologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), have been working for three years on the Madain Saleh Nabatean site in the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia, in cooperation with the Directorate of Antiquities and Museums.
The research program has produced interesting results and accordingly a comprehensive archeological and epigraphic GIS Atlas of the site will be published shortly, Pinon concluded.
