1 Introduction
Can museums keep pace with the changes in society? This simple, direct question is crucial when we consider the current definition of a museum as âa not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritageâ.1 In a world where everything from technology to politics, economics and moral values is in a constant state of mutation, what are the main challenges that museums face today to fulfil that main objective of being at the service of society?
In Europe, one of the deepest social transformations to have occurred in the past two decades is the broadening of its citizenship to include many citizens with a non-European and Islamic background. This has in turn led to more public awareness of migration, refugees, and asylum seekers, and to debates on relevant issues such as inclusion policies, and cultural and religious diversity. It therefore seems appropriate to examine the way in which European museums might serve society by exhibiting the vast Islamic heritage they have amassed over the past centuries.
The public or private ownership of an institution has had a direct impact on collecting interests and expansion policies, financing capabilities, and long-term institutional sustainability. Furthermore, when displaying Islamic visual art and culture, the shaping of narratives, and the creation and fostering of dialogues with diverse audiences have been directly related to the institutionâs mission and the nature of its collection. In recent decades, however, further challenges and opportunities have emerged. Thus, the presentation of Islamic cultural legacy, and indeed of art in general, in European museums, is progressively moving away from the didactic approach that appeals to visitors with
Starting with the more general questions on the role which museums play in a constantly changing Europe and on the existence of a vast, rich, and diverse Islamic heritage that should be at the service of society, this chapter seeks to address the part now played by the display of Islamic visual and material cultures in European museums, and to consider how and to what extent this legacy might help museums to become social agents that promote inclusion and social integration, accessibility, diversity and sustainability.
2 Case Studies
Among the large and varied panorama of âIslamic Artâ collections in Europe,2 the analysis offered in this chapter covers four case studies. Two are public institutions: the Museo Arqueológico Nacional [National Archaeological Museum] in Madrid (1867) and the Museum für Islamische Kunst [Museum of Islamic Art] in Berlin (1904); the other two are private collections, the Davids Samling [David Collection] in Copenhagen (1948) and the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian [Calouste Gulbenkian Museum] in Lisbon (1969). Diverse in terms of the origins and scope of their collections, the selected museums offer the chance to investigate the vast array of approaches taken towards the arts from the Islamic lands in the Europe of today.
Opened to the public in 1871, the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid reunited the collections of three institutions: the Museo de Medallas y Antigüedades [Museum of Medals and Antiquities] of the Biblioteca Nacional de España [Spanish National Library], the archaeological and ethnographic objects of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales [Museum of Natural Sciences] and the collection of the Escuela Superior de Diplomática [School of Diplomacy]. Private donations and acquisitions of objects from archaeological excavations, private collections and ecclesiastical treasures widened the scope of the Museo Arqueológico Nacionalâs holdings. It also houses an âEastern Islamâ collection â defined in contrast to objects from the Iberian Peninsula â consisting of several donations by private collectors.3
These Madrid and Berlin institutions â despite both being public â are different kinds of museums. The first aims to reappraise Islamic legacy within the nation-state, while the latter offers a comprehensive overview of the arts produced by one among many great civilizations. Although today, as we will discuss below, this difference is blurred, it is important to consider how the two collections were initially conceptualized.
The second pair of case studies, the Davids Samling in Copenhagen, and the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, are the result of the activities of private collectors. Both of these fine arts museums still carry the names of their respective founders and possess collections that seek to encompass the whole historical production of âIslamic Artâ. Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869â1955)
Christian Ludwig David was a lawyer specialized in financial matters and an art lover. He took a special interest in Danish fine art and later expanded into the decorative arts, including ceramics, and also began to collect Islamic items. However, his interest in âIslamic Artâ was secondary, and it only became the focus of the museum after his death. When he died in 1960, the Islamic collection consisted of 210 pieces of ceramics, one bronze, five manuscripts, three glass items and forty-one textiles, twenty-six of them carpets. The Board took the decision to focus on and enlarge the Islamic collection, in view of its uniqueness in the Danish museological landscape.6
For his part, the businessman and diplomat of Armenian origin, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, considered himself an âOriental collectorâ.7 Although he was interested in a vast range of different materials, from Lalique glass to ancient Greek coins, old master paintings and French furniture, his collection had a very special focus on artefacts from the Islamic world. Nevertheless, the major part of his collection associated with Islamic lands was not formed on his own travels to places like Egypt or Syria, but rather âin Britain and France, taking advantage of local sales as well as commercial networks that extended across the Middle Eastâ.8
The nature and character of these four museums, as well as their institutional embeddedness, now influence their declared missions and implementation policies. They follow common goals, as expressed in ICOMâs deontological guidelines,9 and face similar challenges and opportunities regarding their mission. However, their disparate locations, working methods
3 Challenges and Opportunities
Museums have taken different approaches to the pressure exerted by recent societal and cultural demands. A question of increasing resonance regards how fast sociopolitical and cultural realities are changing in Europe: to what extent is the public familiar with the Islamic legacy? A comment by the Moroccan writer Abdelfattah Kilito on lecturing on medieval Arabic literature in contemporary Europe is useful to illustrate the set of challenges faced today in museum curatorship. Kilito observes that the European audience needs not only to be transported back to medieval times â which is difficult in itself â but also introduced into a specific cultural context (i.e. the Arabic / Islamic world) that is unfamiliar to the average European person.11 The familiarity or unfamiliarity of the objects on show is crucial to evaluate the problems and potential for current museum display policies. As stated by Seif El-Rashidi, the feeling of estrangement for the values conveyed by Islamic medieval objects is an issue within the Muslim world as well.12
Recent changes in the main collections of âIslamic Artâ around the world (New York, 2011; Paris, 2012; London, 2018; Doha, 2022; Berlin, expected in 2028) are a response to several driving forces.13 These include the events in New York on September 11, 2001, which resulted in Islam being perceived predominantly as a religious notion, overshadowing other cultural dimensions of the Islamic world. Additionally, the growing population of individuals with Islamic or Asian-African backgrounds in Europe has played a role. These profound social changes have thus generated a very different vision of collections and
In other words, the structure of knowledge created in the eighteenth century which was built upon a âterritory-basedâ concept of identity and artistic production which was reflected in museum organization has entered a crisis and new models are emerging.14 Given that the Islamic collections in Europe reflect the continentâs relationship with Islamic lands, âredefining the concept of Islamic art in the museum context is ultimately about reconfiguring Europeâs vision of itself and its relation to the Otherâ.15 Thus, for European museums, the last few decades have meant an in-depth reflection on the categories, labels and terminology used to define, classify, and produce new knowledge about pieces and objects from Islamic lands. More broadly, it is apparent that what has been occurring in museums in the past twenty years runs parallel to reflections in the related academic field.
The debate on the categorization of âIslamic Artâ production started as early as the late nineteenth century, when the arts from the Islamic lands â previously labelled âSaracenâ, âArabâ and âMohammedanâ art â were defined under the collective term âIslamic Artâ, and offered to the public in galleries or museums created for that purpose. Europe epitomized the process, but it also involved the Ottoman Empire and the colonial and local elites of Egypt.16 Following the first comprehensive exhibitions of arts from Islamic lands, including the Exhibition of Arab and Persian Art in London (1885), Lâexposition dâArt Musulman [Muslim Art Exhibition] in Paris (1893), and the exhibition Meisterwerke
In recent decades, however, the chronological and geographical scope of the field and its definition have undergone scrutiny: the definition âIslamic Artâ is not considered an appropriate reflection of the diversity of artistic output from Islamic lands.19 Moreover, the fieldâs potential fragmentation along national lines has been criticized.20 The difficulties involve not only the dichotomy of the national versus pan-Islamic character of what is dubbed âIslamic Artâ, but also the tension between a cultural definition of Islam and a religious interpretation of the term.21 âMaterial and visual culture from the Islamic landsâ is
The leading museums devoted to âIslamic Artâ are currently facing the above epistemological shift regarding the term and notion of âIslamic Artâ. Indeed, they illustrate the failure to resolve this terminological discussion. Moreover, the aforesaid new approaches to the term and concept, as well as the new approaches taken to its display, are determined by their inherited collections, museographies and architectures, and implemented accordingly. As we have seen, their original character was shaped during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, right before the rise of Postcolonial Studies and the New and Critical Museologies. They were responding to their coetaneous scientific and sociocultural contexts, curatorial methods and museographical fashions. Thus, the bulk of their foundational and displayed collections reflect splendorous epochs, major production centres, masterpieces, and luxurious objects. The Islamic world was scientifically systematized through dynastic, chronological, and cultural references, and was displayed correlatively.
The four case studies considered here reflect this major paradigm shift. At the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid and the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin, objects were integrated into larger narratives and chrono-cultural itineraries. The German scholars of the nineteenth century saw the art of the Islamic World as a continuation of Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian cultures, which explains why the collection was moved from the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (now the Bode Museum) into the Pergamon Museum, which houses collections of Greco-Roman, and Mesopotamian civilizations. The move was carried out to legitimize the display of archeological collections from Samarra (Iraq), Raqqa (Syria), Ctesiphon (Iran), and Mshatta (Jordan), to mention a few.
In Madrid, the display of âIslamic Artâ responded to the lively debate about Spainâs national identity by integrating Andalusian and so-called âMudéjarâ
The Davids Samling in Copenhagen, on the other hand, was originally linked to the idea of a historical townhouse museum safeguarding a private collection and aimed to show its holdings in an interior, creating for its visitors the atmosphere of a home rather than a museum. This conception is still apparent in its Danish and European art sections, but the Islamic galleries were converted into a new display in 2008, merging two historical townhouses to ensure sufficient space to show the artworks adequately, and creating an encyclopedic circuit that traverses the main geographies and chronologies of the Islamic World.
The distribution chosen by the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon is similar to the latter arrangement: the âEastern Islamic Artâ section includes pieces from Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Caucasus and India dating from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries, and showcases a great variety of techniques and materials, which include ceramics, fabrics and illuminated manuscripts. This section,
Given these circumstances, after successive analyses of their institutional characteristics, the nature of their holdings and desired narratives, museums are designing and implementing specific projects that comply with their visions and missions, all of which affects the enrichment of their collections, as well as their display and narratives. It is an ongoing balancing act between the pace of sociocultural demands, scientific developments, and the long-term realities of their permanent exhibitions. The required changes can be difficult to implement in a timely manner. For instance, the Museum für Islamische Kunst witnessed the split of Germany, which meant the division of its collection, and the subsequent reunification of both sections later (1958â1991). The museum has already spent more than twenty years planning a new way of displaying its collection, which will occupy the entire north wing of the Pergamon Museum and is set to open to the public at the end of this decade. We can expect a fresh approach and new interpretation of this collection, with plenty of community engagement. And yet by then, the museum may well need to start planning all over again to adapt to a changed world, in which museums are living and ever-evolving spaces.
Bearing this challenge in mind, the permanent exhibition can function as a primary structure, showing general historical dynamics, while different strategies and actions can be used to provide a deeper insight on selected topics and disrupt its static character: these might involve small parallel temporary exhibitions,26 theme-based itineraries, a âmonthly artworkâ series (involving brief publications, guided or streamed visits), âguest piecesâ that are on loan from other institutions, and the use of new technologies.
Where narratives are concerned, the possibilities range from treating Islamic objects as âcultural artefactsâ to considering them âaesthetic works of artâ.27 Between these two poles, the different strategies that have emerged â which are not mutually exclusive and may overlap â can be schematized as follows. One option is to utilize objects to explain Islamic cultures. This implies not only gearing objects to the audienceâs desire to know more about Islam â as well as exploring neglected facets of Islamic life â but also creating micro-narratives around everyday objects. A second choice is to address the museumâs Muslim audience, both local and non-local. This means involving
In short, two major challenges for the twenty-first-century museum are to navigate between displaying artworks as aesthetic objects and to present the artwork as an identity-maker or storyteller. Both approaches are equally important and are closely connected to the nature of a museumâs collection and its capacity. Similarly, it is important to openly participate and foster debate on the process of collecting, addressing the criticisms raised on the colonial past of museums and their holdings. Some museums, like Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid, include a section related to its history as institution, to the ways in which its collections have increased and to their diverse provenances.
Furthermore, the recent movements of decolonization and decentralization of museums encouraged and gave the institutions a much-needed push to invest in provenance and archival research, which aids transparency and can provide a source of new narratives for storytelling. Acquisition policies have been updated and renewed frequently to respond to ongoing turmoil in the art market and illicit trade of artworks. Considering that museums display only 1â3 % of their collections, the artworks remaining in storage are either preserved for rotation, loans or considered as study collections. One part of the collection might evoke the question of authenticity and forgery. The Davids Samling recently devoted a section of its gallery to this specific topic on inspiration, restoration and forgery,28 rather than simply putting questionable objects into storage. This opens a fascinating window enabling visitors to understand and encounter the commercial world of art dealing and authenticity. Talking
Expanding their Islamic collections offers European museums major opportunities to fulfil their aim of serving a changing society, but it can also entail certain threats. It involves profound reflection as to how new acquisitions fit into their vision, how to complement existing holdings, how to fill possible gaps, foster new research or provide for certain display interests. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon is testimony to Calouste Gulbenkianâs contributions to the museological landscape and reflects his personal tastes and knowledge. Although he collected âOrientalâ objects for nearly fifty years, his final acquisitions were made in 1949, some years before his death, preventing the collectionâs expansion with new pieces. The permanent exhibition is therefore not only a reflection of âEastern Islamic artâ, but also of Calouste Gulbenkianâs personal understanding of that cultural legacy. Meanwhile, the other three case studies might be considered âopenâ collections since they are still enlarging their holdings. For instance, Davids Samling continued to acquire objects after its founderâs death and, since the mid-1980s, nearly all available funds have been used for the Islamic collection.
In the case of state museums such as the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid, the possibilities to increase their collections of âIslamic Artâ and archaeology are reduced by legal provisions which give preference to the nearest regional museums when allocating findings and acquisitions.29 Furthermore, the existence â or non-existence â of demand for artefacts on the market, their high prices in view of the increasing participation of emerging states and the budget limitations of European museums are also factors. Additionally, museums need to take strict precautions regarding provenance and the trade in this kind of artefact in view of the looting of cultural heritage from war-torn and postwar regions. Museums have an obligation to combat illicit trade in cultural goods, avoiding acquiring objects about which there is even the slightest suspicion.30
New apps and social media also imply horizontal communication, fostering the museumâs educational role by answering enquiries and questions in initiatives such as âAsk a curatorâ, or by elaborating on information about selected objects through apps like âSmartifyâ or QR codes. These are a few of the many ways in which museums can dynamize and connect with society and academia for mutual benefit.31 They not only add to the pool of knowledge, but help to increase feelings of belonging and community, reaching new audiences and reducing obstacles that might prevent potential public from visiting the museum.
4 Final Remarks
As outlined above, contemporary discourses focus on the agency of objects and beyond.32 The role of an artwork becomes increasingly important when considering its accessibility today and in the future. Contrary to the more elitist approach of twentieth-century museums, objects should be made accessible tangibly, intellectually, and emotionally to all visitors of diverse social, cultural and geographical backgrounds.33 The Internet has changed the way we shape and share ideas. Many museums have seized the opportunity to portray
Active audience participation in creating, narrating, and engaging with artwork increases and creates new collective knowledge, as illustrated by the Multaka project at the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin,34 in which visitors are expected to question their own cognitive and emotional states and make room for other perspectives. Examples like this help reduce unfamiliarity and promote empathy, tackling global and social challenges like prejudice, conflict, injustice, and inequality, and thus contributing, in a very specific way, to the United Nationâs 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Museums are also expected to reduce the euro-centric narration of the past and to reconstruct it in a more diverse and inclusive way, helping to improve understanding through transparency.
âMuseums are not neutralâ.35 Neutrality is not an option in the ongoing conversations regarding museums as colonial products, and urgent creative and sensitive actions are required in these ever-changing living spaces. The history of art is the history of seeing. What we see in the galleries is a selection from the collection, chosen by curators in collaboration with educators, interpretive planners, and designers.36 The curatorâs knowledge, tastes, visionary thinking, and choice of arrangement is crucial for the intellectual stimulation and nourishment of audiences while maximizing the aesthetic experience. Interdisciplinary work, production of new knowledge and inclusive narratives can be accomplished jointly and collectively, and made accessible to everyone. Creating connections between the collections and their visitors, and offering transparent artistic spaces to appreciate, admire, enjoy, and learn are the key to active engagement with art in the museum environment.
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The definition was approved in Prague, on 24 August 2022, by the Extraordinary General Assembly of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Available at https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/ (Accessed April 25, 2023).
Stephen Vernoit, ed., Discovering Islamic Art. Scholars, Collectors and Collections, 1850â1950 (London, 2000).
Alejandro Marcos Pous, ed., De Gabinete a Museo. Tres siglos de historia (Madrid, 1993); Ãngela Franco Mata, âGrandes museos y acopio de arte medievalâ, in Luz de sus ciudades: homenaje a Julio Porres MartÃn-Cleto, ed. Ramon Gonzálvez Ruiz (Toledo, 2008), pp. 280â329; Gaspar Aranda Pastor, âIsidro de las Cagigas López y las antigüedades iranias de la Colección MartÃnez Santa-Olalla del Museo Arqueológico Nacionalâ, BoletÃn del Museo Arqueológico Nacional 34 (2016), 287â304; Andrés Carretero Pérez, âEl Museo Arqueológico Nacional: 150 años de presencia institucionalâ, in ArqueologÃa de los museos. 150 años de la creación del Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Historia de la ArqueologÃa / IV Jornadas de Historia SEHA â MAN, ed. Andrés Carretero Pérez, Concha Papà Rodes, and Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero (Madrid, 2018), pp. 21â42; Beatriz Campderá Gutiérrez, âDel objeto «árabe» a al-Ãndalus: La exposición de las colecciones andalusÃes en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional (I)â, BoletÃn del Museo Arqueológico Nacional 41 (2022), 143â60; Beatriz Campderá Gutiérrez, âDel objeto «árabe» a al-Ãndalus: La exposición de las colecciones andalusÃes en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional (II)â, BoletÃn del Museo Arqueológico Nacional 42 (2023), 417â432.
Almost at the same time, in 1905, the Department of Islamic Art at the Louvre was founded under the label âArts of the Muslimsâ. See: Sophie Makariou, ed., Les arts de lâIslam au Musée du Louvre (Paris, 2012), p.13. For colonial history and French strategies of collecting Islamic art see: Eva Maria Troelenberg, Mshatta in Berlin. Keystones of Islamic Art (Berlin, 2016), pp. 96â97.
State Museums of Berlin Cultural Property, Museum of Islamic Art (Mainz, 2003).
Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection (Copenhagen 2001), pp. 29â35; Kjeld von Folsach, âThe David Collection: The Museumâs History, Character, and Various Reflections on the Reinstallation of the Islamic Collectionâ, in Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, ed. Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom (Boston, 2006), pp. 31â38.
According to Jessica Hallett, âhis roots extended beyond the Ottoman borders of the Empire in which he was born to a larger Orient that included Iranâ. See: Jessica Hallett, âCalouste Gulbenkian and the Rise of Islamic Artâ, in The Rise of Islamic Art, 1869â1939, ed. Jessica Hallett (Lisbon, 2019), p. 13.
On Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, see also: Jonathan Conlin, Mr Five Per Cent: The Many Lives of Calouste Gulbenkian (London, 2019); Piran McClary, âCalouste Gulbenkian, His MÄ«nÄʾī Ware, and the Changing Islamic Art Market in the Early Twentieth Centuryâ, Muqarnas 37, no. 1 (2020), 325â343.
ICOM, Code of Ethics. Available at https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/code-of-ethics/ (Accessed March 24, 2023).
Andrés Carretero Pérez, âEl Museo Arqueológico Nacional: 150 años de presencia institucionalâ, in ArqueologÃa de los museos. 150 años de la creación del Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Historia de la ArqueologÃa / IV Jornadas de Historia SEHA â MAN, ed. Andrés Carretero Pérez, Concha Papà Rodes, and Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero (Madrid, 2018), pp. 29â40; Stefan Weber, âA Concert of Things: Thoughts on Objects of Islamic Art in the Museum Contextâ, in Islamic Art and the Museum. Approaches to Art and Archaeology of the Muslim World in the Twenty-First Century, ed. BenoÈt Junod, Georges Khalil, Stefan Weber, and Gerhard Wolf (London, 2012), pp. 28â53.
Abdelfattah Kilito, Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language, first published in Arabic in 2002 (Syracuse, 2017), pp. 6â8.
Seif El-Rachidi, âMuseum of Islamic Art and Public Engagementâ, in Islamic Art and the Museum, p. 210.
Christian Sassmannshausen, âThe Stuff of History: Everyday Objects, the Construction of Ambiguous Meanings and the âAfterlifeâ of Social Thingsâ, in Islamic Art and the Museum, p. 116.
Robert Skwirblies, ââGreatest Adornments, Enormous Profitsâ: How European Cultural Heritage Values were Formed in the 18th Centuryâ, in Translocations. History of Dislocated Cultural Assets, ed. Felicity Bodenstein, Merten Lagatz, and Bénédicte Savoy (forthcoming).
Beshara Doumani, âThe Power of Layers or the Layers of Power? The Social Life of Things as the Backbone of New Narrativesâ, in Islamic Art and the Museum, p. 129.
Linda Komaroff, âExhibiting the Middle East: Collections and Perceptions of Islamic Artâ, Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 1â8; Wendy M. K. Shaw, âIslamic Arts in the Ottoman Imperial Museum, 1889â1923â, Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 55â68; Jean-Gabriel Leturcq, âThe Museum of Arab Art in Cairo (1869â2014): A Disoriented Heritage?â, in After Orientalism Critical Perspectives on Western Agency and Eastern Re-appropriations, ed. François Pouillion and Jean-Claude Vatin (Leiden, 2015), pp. 145â61.
Remi Labrusse, âDe la collection à lâexposition: les arts de lâIslam à Paris (1864â1917), in Purs décors? Art de lâIslam, regards du XIXè siècle, ed. Remi Labrusse (Paris, 2007) pp. 64â74; Jens Kröger and Ernst Kühnel, âThe 1910 Exhibition «Meisterwerke muhammadanischer Kunst»: Its Protagonists and its Consequences for the Display of Islamic Art in Berlinâ, in After One Hundred Years: The 1910 Exhibition âMeisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunstâ Reconsidered, ed. Anna Lermer and Avinoam Shalem (Leiden, 2010), pp. 65â116. See also: Wendy Miriam Kural Shaw, âFrom postcoloniality to decoloniality, from heritage to perpetuation: The Islamic at the museumâ, in Islam and Heritage in Europe. Pasts, Presents and Future Possibilities, ed. Katarzyna Puzon, Sharon Macdonald, and Mirjam Shatanawi (New York, 2021), pp. 31â50.
David Roxburgh, âAu Bonheur des Amateurs: Collecting and Exhibiting Islamic Art, ca. 1880â1910â, Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 9â38; David Roxburgh, âAfter Munich: Reflections on Recent Exhibitionsâ, in After One Hundred Years, pp. 357â386.
Oleg Grabar, âIslamic Art: Art of a Culture of Art of Faith?â, Art and Archeology Research Papers 13 (1978): 1â6. Interestingly, the discussion mainly developed in the USA, though some of the problems were exposed as early as 1910 in Germany by Carl H. Becker (âDer Islam als Problemâ, Der Islam 1, 1910, pp. 1â21).
Jonathan M. Blair and Sheila S. Blair, âThe Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Fieldâ, The Art Bulletin 85 (2003), 152â84.
Nasser Rabbat, âWhat is Islamic Architecture Anyway?â, Journal of Art Historiography 6 (2012, online); Avinoam Shalem, âWhat do We Mean when We Say âIslamic Artâ? A Plea for a Critical Rewriting of the History of the Arts of Islamâ, Journal of Art Historiography 6 (2012, online). A different stance on the topic has been formulated by the historian of Islam, Shahab Ahmed (What Is Islam?: The Importance of Being Islamic, Princeton, 2016) recently quoted by the Islamic art historian Simon OâMeara (The KaÊ¿ba Orientations: Readings in Islamâs Ancient House, Edinburgh, 2020).
Gülru NecipoÄlu, âThe Concept of Islamic Art: Inherited Discourses and New Approachesâ, in Islamic Art and the Museum, pp. 57â75; Virginie Rey, âFrom âIslamic Artâ to âMuslim Heritageâ: The Display of Islam in Museums of Europe and Beyondâ, in Archaeology, Politics and Islamicate Cultural Heritage in Europe, ed. David J. Govantes-Edwards (Newcastle, 2022), pp. 183â196.
Susana Calvo Capilla (ed.), Las artes en al-Andalus y Egipto. Contextos e intercambios (Madrid, 2017).
Antonio UrquÃzar-Herrera, âLa caracterización polÃtica del concepto mudéjar en España durante el siglo XIXâ, Espacio, tiempo y forma. Serie VII, Historia del arte 22â23 (2009â2010): 201â216; Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza, âLos estilos nacionales y sus discursos identitarios: el denominado estilo mudéjarâ, in La Historia del Arte en España: devenir, discursos y propuestas, ed. Alvaro Molina MartÃn (Madrid, 2016), pp. 197â216; Elena Paulino-Montero, âRepensando el mudéjar desde el siglo XXI: el canon hispánico que no fueâ, in Repensando el canon: Modelos, categorÃas y prestigio en el arte medieval hispano, ed. Javier MartÃnez de Aguirre, Ãngel Fuentes Ortiz, and VÃctor Rabasco GarcÃa (Madrid, 2022), pp. 177â192. This issue has been addressed by Museo Arqueológico Nacional through activities such as the guided visit organized by J. C. Ruiz Souza in 2019 De la invención del mudéjar al arte andalusÃ: teoremas y persuasiones (Available at http://www.man.es/man/en/actividades/actividades-extraordinarias/historico-extraordinarias/2019/20191107-semana-ciencia/20191112-arte-andalusi.html (Accessed March 31, 2023).
MarÃa Ãngela Franco Mata, Luis Javier Balmaseda Muncharaz, Isabel Arias Sánchez, and Sergio Vidal Ãlvarez, âNuevo montaje de la colección y ArqueologÃa y Arte Medieval del Museo Arqueológico Nacionalâ, BoletÃn del Museo Arqueológico Nacional 32 (2014), 424â430; Guillermo GarcÃa-Contreras Ruiz, âAl-Andalus en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional: Donde arquitectura y artes decorativas prevalecen por encima de la historiaâ, ArqueoWeb 16 (2015): 292â303; Josephine Shaya, âCommunicating Context: Spainâs Newly Renovated Museo Arqueológico Nacionalâ, American Journal of Achaeology 121.2 (2017): 333â341.
Rachel Ward, ed., Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq (London, 2014); Sergio Vidal. et al., âVitrina CERO: De Nishapur a Samarcanda: arqueologÃa y arte de la Persia medievalâ, BoletÃn del Museo Arqueológico Nacional 41 (2022), pp. 513â22.
Miriam Kühn, âMuseums and Their Formationâ, in Islamic Art and the Museum, p. 215.
Kjeld von Folsach, âThe new installation of Islamic Art in the David Collection and the Concept behind itâ, Journal of the David Collection 3 (2010): 19.
BOE, Ley 16/1985 de Patrimonio Histórico Español, TÃtulo V Del patrimonio arqueológico, art. 45, accessed March 24, 2023. Available at https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1985-12534#tvii Andrés Carretero Pérez, âEl Museo Arqueológico Nacionalâ, pp. 27â29.
UNESCO/ Zeynep Boz, Fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural property: a toolkit for European judiciary and law enforcement (Paris, 2023).
Soledad Gómez VÃlchez, âMuseos españoles y redes sociales. Evaluación de preferencia y participaciónâ, Telos: Cuadernos de comunicación e innovación 90 (2012), pp. 79â86;
Avinoam Shalem, âThe Transformative Museum. Why We Need an Other Museum for the Arts of Islamâ, Dynamics of the Image, ed. Emmanuel Alloa and Chiara Cappelletto (Berlin, 2020), p. 330.
Eva Maria Troelenberg, Mshatta in Berlin, p. 104.
Available at https://multaka.de/en/startsite-en/ (Accessed April 25, 2023).
Available at https://www.museumsarenotneutral.com/learn-more/we-are-stronger-together (Accessed April 25, 2023).
Available at https://www.artcurators.org/page/ProfPractices (Accessed April 25, 2023).