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In times when the so-called “Arab world” has occupied the media, minds and major contemporary events, and when the chiefly political and economic clippings are not able to express all its layers, there is nothing better than art to take the plunge and do justice to one of the oldest cultures of mankind. The exhibition entitled “Islam – Art and Civilization” brings together 302 pieces that tell the 1400-year history of the Islamic world, and it shows the greatness of its influence on the history of the world, especially the West. It brings together works and pieces of jewelry, furniture, tapestry, clothing, weapons, armor, utensils, mosaics, ceramics, glassware, miniatures, paintings, calligraphy and scientific and musical instruments. In order to portray all this wealth, the exhibition featured the collections from six of the most important museums in Syria and Iran: Damascus National Museum, Museum of Popular Traditions and the Aleppo City Museum, in Syria; and the National Museum of Iran, Reza Abbasi Museum and Museum of Carpets in Tehran. And it also has art pieces from the northern countries of Africa, part of the collections from BibliASPA (South America & Arab Countries Library and Research Center) and the collection from Africas House. With works that had never been shown in Brazil, many of which had never left their home museum, the Islam exhibition is an ethnographic journey through the filigrees and arabesques of the soul of a 1000-year-old people, its history, philosophy, science and art. A mosaic of Islamic culture in space and time, seen by over six hundred thousand people and awarded as the most visited theme exhibition in 2010.
