In the ancient Napoleon hall in the Louvre Museum, where the echoes of civilizations meet and the lines of time mix the visitors in silence in front of what looks like the return of the Mamluks, not as heavily armed Knights, but as an artists of art, protectors of civilization and beauty makers.
The exhibition “Mamluk 1250-1517 .. an empire of iron and light” is not just a restoration of a strong judgment in the heart of the East, but rather a civilization that resisted death with ink, extinction of architecture, and forgetting with art.
In the capital, Paris – which is the city of museums and memory – the Louvre opens its arms for a historical era that has long been locked in books: the time of the Mamluks, and in the museum’s corridors and on the walls I used to tell the tales of the Romans and the Greeks shining from there a different luster, the brightness of the East.
Sultanate of iron and silk
The exhibition displays more than 250 rare pieces collected from international museums and institutions, from siches and engraved weapons, vases of decorative glass, and Quranic manuscripts written in a graceful copy line, all of which tell about a civilization that flourished despite the nose of history.
The director of the Islamic Arts Department at the Louvre, Thuraya Njeim, said that this exhibition is guided to the Mamluk dynasty based on a strong hierarchical sequence between East and West, North and South, and it is located in a central geographical location in the ways of trade.
“The Mamluks settled in two main capital, Cairo and Damascus, in addition to all the cities of the Near East, especially those located on the coast of the Levant, which carries the imprint of this Mamluk art, from Cairo to Damascus, passing through Gaza and Aleppo, then Tripoli in Lebanon, to southeastern Turkey,” Njeim added in her interview with Al -Jazeera Net.
The general value of the exhibition indicated that the first designated for Islamic arts about 15 years in the Louvre Museum, which is also the first of its kind in Europe and the second main exhibition dedicated to the Mamluks for more than 50 years, specifically since 1981 in the United States.
She also clarified that the Louvre Museum group is one of the most important collections of Mamluk art in Europe, praising at the same time in cooperation that took place with a number of partner institutions around the world, especially the Qatar Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, which contributed to rare and exceptional artifacts.
War men and beauty shepherds
The exhibition aims to overcome what is customary in the history of the Mamluks, especially the military class and its unique political system to explore new topics, such as artistic talents, the diversity of society and its huge wealth, as well as the role of women and the works of calligraphers, scholars and great artists.
Every detail in the exhibition is pronounced, here is a problem with decorated glass, and there is a copper shield bearing the name of one of the sultans with engineering lines as if it was built to resist time, and on the other side a page of a Qur’an written by the Golden Shami supply.
The first part of the exhibition explains the history of the Sultanate and the military elite, and also reviews the history of the covenants of the major Mamluk sultans, especially the era of Nasser Muhammad bin Qalawun, who ruled in the first half of the 14th century.
In this part – which bears the name of the Sultan – there are rare pieces, the most important of which is a beautiful inception of beauty preserved in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, inlaid with gold and silver, and it is an exquisite example of the art of vaccination of minerals that reached its climax in the Mamluk era.
The width of the pieces is characterized by a unique smoothness far from any contradiction, so we find the sword next to religious books and helmets alongside the vase, and perhaps the secret of the Mamluks lies in this juvenile, that is, they were really war men, but at the same time they are sponsors of art and beauty and identity makers.
East treasures
There is a department dedicated to the Islamic religion and its practices during the Mamluk era, with a selection of wonderful ornate Qur’an, including a huge Qur’an similar to those Qur’ans that were made in the late 14th century of the great religious buildings founded by the sultans, especially in Cairo.
In his description, the director of the exhibition, Karen Jovan, said, “This Qur’an is preserved at the Manchester Museum and is characterized by rich and bright golden motifs dominated by gold and lapis laziness, in addition to a wide range of colors and a group of flowers that include Chinese elements such as lotus flowers, which we often find in the art of Mamluks from that period.”
The literary aspect is among the most important cultural aspects during the era of the Mamluk Sultanate, which left a huge number of drawn and poetic manuscripts that were characterized by its magnitude, comprehensiveness, and diversity of high quality.
Among these cultural practices, Jovan remembers in her interview with Al -Jazeera Net, “The Shadow Theater”, which dates back to the Mamluk era, “through which they narrated the story of the Mamluks who were purchased while they were children, taken from their families, received the teachings of the Islamic religion and the arts of war and became great warriors.”
The exhibition also discusses scientific practices, as this period witnessed the construction of important hospitals in Cairo and Syria, especially in Aleppo.
Astronomy also witnessed a remarkable development, and great astronomers emerged in Damascus and Aleppo in the 14th century, as well as astronomical sciences and speculation that were common among the common people.
Women and society
Jovan pointed out that the second part of the exhibition discusses the entire Mamluk society, beyond the military elite “in which we show archaeological pieces linked to the civil elite where urban life – undoubtedly – was fundamental in the Mamluk society by highlighting the various components of society and the multiple cultural aspect.”
The exhibition also includes a full section of women in the Mamluk society through some pieces and manuscripts, which is part of a study on the position of women and their role within the recent research presented by the exhibition.
Among the outstanding pieces are the luxurious jug preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, registered in the name of Sultana Fatima, the wife of Sultan Qaid Bey, who ruled at the end of the 15th century, a woman from a wealthy family and a brilliant business woman who knew how to develop her wealth during her rule, and exceptionally we have 7 pieces bearing her name.
The exhibition also deals with the different cultures that coexist and intertwine within the Sultanate, and this includes the military culture of the Mamluk elite, known as equestrian, through a selection of weapons and shields, in addition to manuscripts and messages about equestrian and military arts, according to Jovan.
In her turn, the director of the Islamic Arts Department at the Louvre, Thuraya Njeim, sees that the art of Mamluks is characterized by incredible vitality and wealth, and links various icons and styles in a mud and modern template, stressing, “If it was preferable to describe the Mamluk artists to describe them already with the real graphic artists and designers called the Middle Ages.”
Njeim considers that the baptism of St. Louis is one of the most prominent works of the Islamic Arts Department in the Louvre, and it is made of tannated copper and is chosen with gold, silver and the nilo (a black metal mixture used for filling engraved or engraved motifs on mineral For the children of the French royal family, especially Lewis 13.
Travel and exchange ground
Thanks to the Strategic Mamluk Sultanate website, a large part of the exhibition focused on the relations between it and the surrounding areas, whether it is close to the Mongol Empire east or Ottoman, or geographically farther such as Europe and the Indian Ocean on the borders of China.
In this context, Karen Jovan explained that the Sultanate formed the link between the Indian Ocean, spices, the Mediterranean and Europe, as was the meeting place of pilgrims, whether they were Muslim pilgrims passing through the Sultanate on their way to Mecca, or Christian pilgrims or Jews heading to the Holy Land.
“It was truly a land of travel and exchange, and this was reflected in the material culture of the Sultanate, so we review many pieces that embody these exchanges, such as the ceramic pieces of the type of liberal, which were made in Syria and are inspired by blue and white decorations of Chinese art.”
“The ceramic vase also carries the European interest slogan for the city of Florence, which indicates that it was made at a special request by an institution in this Italian city, and thus for the European market.”
The last part of the exhibition of Mamluk art tells the achievements of that great period and the main techniques that reached its climax during that era, such as wooden works with combined and chunky decorations, in addition to metal works, textile art and glass decorated with enamel.
The Mamluk exhibition halls do not celebrate with an oriental art, but rather restore to a page that almost forgotten, and reminds the Western and Arab visitor alike that history is not only the king of the victors, but also the voice of copper when it is touched by dignity and military sophistication, and ink from the arts and treasures that are poured to remain immortal.
