Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, opened the Baghdad: Eye’s Delight exhibition at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) today. The show introduces and celebrates the significance of Baghdad under the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) and its lasting influence on the area and the rest of the globe. It will be on display at MIA's Temporary Exhibition Gallery until February 25, 2023. Eye's Delight focuses on Baghdad as a political, economic, and intellectual center during one of the most inventive periods in global history.

The exhibition is being held as a part of the Qatar-MENASA 2022 Year of Culture, a global cultural exchange intended to enhance mutual understanding between nations and their citizens, as well as Qatar Creates, a year-round national cultural movement that selects, champions, and celebrates the variety of cultural activities in Qatar.

The talk examines Baghdad's status as a major intellectual and creative hub that has drawn thinkers and researchers from all over the world, as well as the city's incredible fortitude throughout history in the face of conflict, bloodshed, and devastation. The exhibit emphasizes how Baghdad survived by preserving the memory of its Abbasid past.

The curators of Baghdad: Eye's Delight are Dr. Julia Gonnella, director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Dr. Mounia Chekhab Abudaya, Dr. Tara Desjardins, Nicoletta Fazio, and Simone Struth. A richly illustrated exhibition catalogue with significant contributions from eminent worldwide experts will be published to go along with the show.

Baghdad: Eye's Delight, an exhibition honoring a great city that has significantly contributed to art, science, and intellectual studies in the area, is the perfect way for the Museum of Islamic Art to celebrate its recent reopening.

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Opens the Exhibition Bagdad: Eyes Delight. #QNAhttps://t.co/DYGxcrJj1h pic.twitter.com/CLDiWFY0el

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) October 25, 2022

Baghdad: Eye's Delight pays homage to the "glorious" history of the city by emphasizing the Baghdad of the 20th century, particularly (but not only) the time between the 1940s and 1970s, when Baghdad once again flourished and experienced a dynamic urban life. The exhibit features 160 items, including works that have been loaned from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in Vatican City, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Islamic Art (SMB) in Berlin, the Oriental Department of the State Library (SBB) in Berlin, the Benaki Museum in Athens, the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, the Dia Al-Azzawi Collection in London.

City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952–1982, a presentation in conjunction with the exhibition, is located on level 4 of the MIA and highlights completed and uncompleted projects by 11 architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Josep Llus Sert, Alvar and Aino Aalto, and Robert Venturi FAIA. The Col. d'Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) Barcelona Delegation organized the Prof. Pedro Azara-curated show in Barcelona in 2012. After that, it traveled to the United States (New York, Boston - MIT), Ramallah, and Baghdad.

Raku Kichizaemon XV: Jikiny - A Living Tradition of Japanese Pottery, which is on display at MIA until March 2023, features a collection of fourteen ceremonial tea bowls that were inspired by Qatar's people and natural environment and feature poetry written by Qatar's founder, Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed bin Thani. 

The MIA recently reopened after undergoing a facilities improvement project that includes the reimagining and reinstallation of its permanent collection galleries. The exhibition unveilings come following the MIA's recent renovation. The revamped MIA offers visitors a more approachable, interesting, and instructive experience. It is one of the foremost institutions of Islamic art in the world and the first world-class museum in the area.

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Source credits: The Peninsula