Bologna, at the Museo Civico Medievale the exhibition dedicated to Islamic art.

The Bologna Civic Museums of Ancient Art Sector announces the exhibition Knowledge and Freedom. Islamic Art at the Civic Medieval Museum of Bologna, curated by Anna Contadini with the collaboration of Mattia Guidetti, which can be visited in the Lapidarium of the Civic Medieval Museum from April 20 to September 15, 2024. The exhibition, promoted by Settore Musei Civici Bologna | Musei Civici d’Arte Antica and School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London, in collaboration with Museo di Palazzo Poggi, afferent to SMA - Sistema Museale di Ateneo dell’Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, and Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà dell’Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, highlights part of the prestigious collection of Islamic art present in the heritage of the Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna. The objects come from a wide swath of the Islamic world, stretching from Iraq to Spain and covering a broad chronological span, from the early 13th to the 18th century.

An important center for the circulation and dissemination of art objects from the Islamic world, Bologna has been a magnet for merchants, collectors, artists and scholars since the Middle Ages. Its university offered valuable support to the study of the cultural heritage that the Islamic world produced in the fields of philosophy, medicine, and technology as well as the study of languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic. The city played the role of a conductor, from which art objects and ideas were able to spread from the Islamic world beyond the borders of Italy to Hungary, Germany, France and beyond. The exhibition project is structured around themes that highlight the transmission of scientific knowledge and production techniques, the reworking of Arabic script and epigraphic elements, and the appropriation of production techniques and ornaments.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of in-depth lectures, guided tours and a catalog of the same title, published by SAGEP Editori, containing prefaces by Eva Degl’Innocenti and Silvia Battistini and essays by Anna Contadini and Mattia Guidetti.

Image: Glass vial (Syria, 13th century; blue glass decorated with polychrome enamels and gold, 17.5 x 7.8 cm; Bologna, Museo Civico Medievale, Pelagio Palagi Collection, inv. 1395)

Bologna, at the Museo Civico Medievale the exhibition dedicated to Islamic art.

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