Louvre travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

The Department of Islamic Art is the youngest of the museum’s eight departments created in France. The latter opened a first room devoted to the Islamic collection in 1893. A small group of works was subsequently exhibited in two rooms at the end of the installation of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities.

The Richelieu wing, formerly occupied by the Ministry of Finance, was transformed into a new exhibition area, inaugurated in 1993, making it possible to exhibit a larger number of works from the Islamic collection. The display was situated on the lower ground floor. In late 2007, a new exhibition space in the Cour Visconti will be opened, which means that the Department of Islamic Art will be based near the rooms devoted to late Antiquity in the Mediterranean region.

The Department of Islamic Art shows over a thousand of works. Most of them were intended for the court or a wealthy elite. They span thirteen hundred years of history and three continents, reflecting the creativity and diversity of inspiration in Islamic countries.