After the Louvre Abu Dhabi, here are five museums every traveller must visit

Photo: People walk at the Louvre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, November 6, 2017. REUTERS/Satish Kumar

The Louvre Abu Dhabi has finally opened its doors to the public. So what can visitors look forward to? Here’s our summary of the key highlights, plus five other museums every traveller absolutely has to visit.

1. LOUVRE ABU DHABI, ABU DHABI, U.A.E.

Photo: People view exhibits at the Louvre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, November 6, 2017. REUTERS/Satish Kumar

Built at a cost of around $650 million, the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s shimmering honeycombed dome will be the temporary home of some of the world’s finest artworks as its own collection grows. Borrowed world-class items include Da Vinci’s Le Belle Ferronniere, Jacques-Louis David’s Napolean, and a painted ‘selfie’ by Van Gogh. The museum already owns Giovanni Bellini’s Madonna, but its strong cross-culture focus really shines through in an especially interesting exhibit that includes a Yemeni Torah, an early Quran and a Gothic Bible.

2. INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE, PARIS, FRANCE

Far more than a museum, the Institut Du Monde Arab on the River Seine’s south bank is home to regular exhibitions, live performances, film screenings as well as workshops and lectures covering pre-Islamic Arab culture all the way up to the contemporary Muslim world.

3. BEIT AL QURAN, MANAMA, BAHRAIN

Photo: MANAMA, BAHRAIN, OCTOBER 22, 2016: View of Beit al Quran art museum in Manama, Bahrain. / trabantos / Shutterstock.com

A museum dedicated to the Quran, the Beit Al Quran has its own mosque, a library of over 20,000 books and an auditorium for guest speakers. However, the essence of this stunning institute in the Bahraini capital is the exhibition, spread across 10 halls, of Qurans that date all the way from the first century of Islam right up to the modern era.

4. THE CHESTER BEATTY LIBRARY, DUBLIN, IRELAND

Photo: DUBLIN, IRELAND - NOVEMBER 1, 2016: The Chester Beatty Library is a museum of rare manuscripts and books, as well as East Asian art, located next to the Dublin Castle in the Irish capital. / EQRoy / Shutterstock.com

Irish American Alfred Chester Beatty was a mining magnate who collected over 20,000 rare books and manuscripts during his lifetime, the majority of which are from the Islamic world. His stunning collection spans almost every single Muslim dynasty, from the Umayyads, Abbasids and Fatimids all the way through to the Mamluks, Moghuls and Ottomans. It really is one of the finest collections of ancient Muslim manuscripts in the western world.

5. THE BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, ENGLAND

Photo: LONDON, UK - CIRCA JUNE 2017: Tourists visiting the British Museum. / Claudio Divizia / Shutterstock.com

I once stood next to a grandmother at the British Museum’s Easter Island statue. After hearing where the statue came from, her grandson asked, “But Granny, why is it here, then?” Slightly embarrassed, she replied, “We’re just borrowing it, dear.” Whether ‘borrowed’ or otherwise, the Brits have amassed a stupendous collection of global artefacts from every major civilisation, including the Muslim ones. But my favourite is Offa’s coin, number 523 on the listening route. This Anglo-Saxon artefact is an 8th-century gold coin minted in Britain with the Islamic shahada in Arabic on it. Yes, you read that right.

6. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, U.S.A.

Photo: MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, USA - NOVEMBER 2017: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. / Miami2you / Shutterstock.com

The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds the largest collection of Islamic art in the world. These 12,000 pieces include art from Moorish Spain to South Asia and feature such varied artefacts as official Ottoman decrees and highly decorative Quran manuscripts. The institute, which also has artwork from every corner of the planet, is the largest museum in America and one of the most visited in the world.

(This article is written by Tharik Hussain. Tharik is a freelance British Muslim travel writer, journalist, broadcaster and photographer specialising in the Muslim stories of Europe. Hussain’s first ever radio documentary, America’s Mosques; A Story of Integration, has been declared one of the world’s best radio documentaries for 2016. All his work can be viewed at www.tharikhussain.co.uk)

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