France pays homage to Morocco, then and now
Two exhibits in Paris despite diplomatic issues
PARIS – With two shows in Paris, France is paying homage to Morocco and reaffirming its ”willingness to get past difficulties” on the diplomatic front. Held in the prestigious halls of the Louvre, the first exhibition – ‘Medieval Morocco: An Empire from Africa to Spain’, open until January 9 – is a trip between the late 8th and late 15th centuries through the vast, Muslim-held area extending from Mali to Andalusia, focusing on the large Arab-Berber dynasties centered in Morocco. ”It was a brilliant epoch in which Muslims, Jews and Christians worked together at the beginning of a golden age,” said Mehdi Qotbi, head of Morocco’s national museums foundation, who took part in the organization of the exhibition.
Exceptional pieces include a chandelier from the Al-Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez, a Mishneh Torah manuscript, a Jewish codex of religious law written by Maimonides, one of the most important rabbis in Jewish history, and Arab letters from the Caliphate to Pisa merchants. ”We discovered in our archives some correspondence with the Holy See during the Crusades,” said curator Bahija Simou. The other exhibition – ‘Contemporary Morocco’, which will be at the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) until January 15 – presents works of photography, video, painting and sculpture by 80 contemporary Moroccan artists (including Farid Belkahia, Farid Benohoud and Najia Mehadji).
”The Moroccan artistic scene is one of the most open in the region,” said one of the curators, Jean-Hubert Martin. ”Though they aren’t ‘provocative works’, the artists do play with irony.
The issues dealt with include the human body, religion and the Arab Spring.” The two shows aim to show Morocco as a land of religious and intellectual open-mindedness and are being held in a period of diplomatic disagreements between Paris and Rabat. Moroccan authorities suspended diplomatic collaboration with France after a French NGO in recent months accused the head of the Moroccan secret services, Abdellatif Hammouchi, of torture.
At the Monday inauguration of the show at the IMA, French president Francois Hollande reiterated the ”willingness to get past the difficulties” between the two nations. ”I want France and Morocco,” Hollande said in the presence of the sister of Moroccan king Mohammed VI, Lalla Meryem, to not only work as close partners but also to ”cooperate in all sectors”.(ANSAmed).
(by Aurora Bergamini) (ANSAmed)
