HRH Prince Moulay Rachid Inaugurates In Rabat 'Medieval Morocco: An Empire From Africa To Spain' Exhibition
HRH Prince Moulay Rachid inaugurated, on Tuesday at Rabat Mohammed VI Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, the itinerant exhibition "Medieval Morocco: an empire from Africa to Spain", held from March 3 to June 3 by the National Foundation for Museums in partnership with the Paris Louvre Museum.
After presenting to His Royal Highness ambassadors of countries that lent items to this exhibition and some sponsors, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid visited the different stands of the expo which reflects, through 220 works of art, Morocco's achievements during the Almoravid, Almohad and Marinid dynasties in the fields of architecture, pottery, textile, calligraphy and books.
Items exhibited include minbars (where preachers stand during Friday prayer), pottery pyxis, silk items, rare calligraphy manuscripts, and precious furniture from the Kingdom's glorious past.
Presented for the first time at the Paris Louvre Museum from October 17, 2014 to January 19, 2015, the exhibition showcases masterpieces from Moroccan, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian museums, and offers the public an occasion to delve into the Moroccan history between the 11th and 15th centuries, the golden age for the Muslim civilization.
The exhibition is in line with HM King Mohammed VI's efforts aimed at making culture an engine for development, bringing peoples closer and promoting the values of tolerance, openness and sharing, in addition to achieving a real cultural melting pot.
Since the creation of the Idrissides State which is independent from the Mashreq, Morocco chose a moderate Islam based on the Malekite rite and Sufi thinking, these bases make up Morocco's political and spiritual identity.
On this occasion, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid granted, on behalf of His Majesty the King, the Alawite Wissam of officer rank to the chairman and managing director of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez.
The two organizers of the event Bahija Simou, director of the Royal Archives, and Yannick Lintz, director of the Islamic Art department at the Louvre, presented his Royal Highness the Prince with two boxes containing each a copy of the exhibition's catalogue (in Arabic and in French).
MAP 03 March 2015