The Institute of the Arab World and Paris Mosque

Today we visited the Institut du Monde Arab and the Mosquee de Paris, then strolled through the Latin Quarter past the Pantheon and through the Luxembourg Gardens.

The Institute was established by France and 20 Arab countries with the aim of promoting awareness between Arab countries and the West. There is a museum that is open to the public, but for the most part it is just a display of artifacts and a collection that pales in comparison to that of the Louvre. One portion of the museum was an introduction to a website that the Intstitute has created that tracks the growth and fall of Western and Middle Eastern Empires and explores the exchanges between them in the fields of art and science. The site has not been entirely translated to English yet, but when it is I think it will be a great resource for my students to explore.

The Paris Mosque is somewhat modest on the outside, but has a magnificent interior with a beautiful central coutyard. Unlike the dozen or so churches we have visited, the mosque does ask a 3 euro donation from visitors to contribute to its maintenance. The openess of the courtyards and the arabesque stone work created a much brighter environment than the much older stone cathedrals we have seen in France.