The 'Treasure of Jazira' collection arrives at the Louvre Abu Dhabi
The Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced that it will hold an exhibition in which it intends to show the public a series of 2,800 silver coins, which belonged to different Islamic kingdoms from centuries ago. The museum intends to present these objects as part of a project that will be on display for two years in the United Arab Emirates. At the moment, the exact date on which it will be on display to visitors is not known, but it was planned to open in September.
The collection will be called the 'Treasury of Jazira', and consists of a large number of Islamic coins from the medieval period, bearing inscriptions from the Koran, as well as images and symbols of the names of the kings of the time. These coins date from the reign of King Sapor II, who ruled from AD 309-379, to the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Al Ma'Mun, who ruled from AD 813-833.
Guilhem Andre, director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, highlights the importance of political, economic and geographical changes during history, informing the public of the value given to some precious metals in the different periods and the changes in symbols during the periods. "Sassanid drachmas, Umayyad dirhams, Abbasid silver coins, along with Byzantine solid gold, Genoese and Venetian gold coins, and more will demonstrate how a simple coin can illustrate power relations and rivalries between competing and growing empires, as well as the rise of important trading cities," Andre said.
The coins were acquired by the museum itself in 2019 from a European treasure collector. As part of the project, the art gallery has carried out the process of restoring these coins before they can be exhibited. A team specialising in this type of matter belonging to the cultural complex has carried out the process of re-establishing and conserving the material they are made of, eliminating the passage of time and the corrosion they reflected. Likewise, as part of the plan, they have had to weigh the coins, document the period in which they were issued, measure their diameter and length, find out the type of material used to make them... They have also had to examine, in a specific way, the writings and signs on the coins.
"The coins were not only preserved by the museum, but also documented and digitised so that they could be studied in greater detail. We had to decide how to conserve each of the coins, whether by using chemicals, subjecting them to an ultrasonic bath or letting them wash in distilled water, considering which treatment would be the best and least intrusive way to reveal what each coin hides," said Theofanis Karafotias, head of the conservation team at Louvre Abu Dhabi.
At the same time, 59 new loans from other museums have been announced this month to be welcomed to the room for display in the capital, and 56 new acquisitions, which will be exhibited in the coming months. This will provide the museum with an important cultural richness, showing, above all, the history and cultural connections of the different dates. Some of the latest works to be unveiled are two paintings: 'A Girl Blowing a Brazier', by George de La Tour, painted between 1646 and 1648; and 'The Lock', by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. These two paintings were chosen for the important representation of the aesthetic influence and the historical-artistic importance they show.
Since 2017, the year of its opening, Louvre Abu Dhabi has steadily grown its collection and currently has more than 600 works on display, both native to the region and the Arab world, as well as international. Its collections are displayed according to the theme of a place, following a chronology that encourages visitors to follow the story of any given representation, threaded through time.
