Louvre show opens in Tehran as cultural diplomacy thrives

The Louvre has opened a show in Tehran billed as the first large-scale exhibition by a major western museum in the country, as French cultural diplomacy thrives despite tensions between Iran and Europe over the nuclear deal.

The exhibition at Iran’s national museum, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary, features 50 artworks, including a 2,400-year-old Egyptian sphinx, a bust of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Iranian artefacts and drawings by western artists including Rembrandt and Delacroix.

Curated to showcase works tracing the creation of the Louvre, from its founding in 1793 to date, the show came a day after the French foreign minister, Yves Le Drian, arriving in Tehran both to open the exhibition and press officials over their missile programme, received a rocky welcome. One official meeting him broke with tradition, appearing in military attire, and newspaper headlines called him “a rude guest”.

Describing the four-month show as an “outstanding cultural and diplomatic event” for Iran and France, the Louvre said the exhibition was the outcome of the agreement signed between the Louvre and Iran’s museums and cultural heritage organisation during the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s visit to France in January 2016 following the closing of nuclear deal between Iran and the west.

“In the turbulent ocean of international diplomacy, cultural diplomacy is a beacon we must keep alight,” Le Drian said at the private opening on Tuesday, a day before the exhibition’s doors opened to the public.



Source: theguardian

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