Oct 25 2010
Italy has mounted an exhibition of Islamic artworks in the city of Milan, which features pieces from the dawn of Islam until the modern era.
Organized by Milan Municipality, the event displays Islamic artworks from Egypt, Iran, India and Spain.
The exhibition aims to provide those living outside the Islamic community with a better understanding of the Muslim world.
Muslim immigrants of Italy were provided with the chance to “show their art and go proud saying that we had and we have a very big civilization and we can show it,” director of the exhibition Giovanni Curatola told Press TV.
Over one million Muslims currently live in Italy where Islam is the second largest faith after Catholicism in the European country.
In recent years many Muslims have immigrated to Italy from Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.
In 2005, the Italian Minister of Interior founded the Council for Italian Islam composed of Muslim people.
“We tend to learn about other people, other religions and other civilizations through our own prejudices and stereotypes,” cultural assessor Massimiliano Finazzer Flory said.
“This is wrong,” he added, saying “Culture is all about questioning our convictions and this exhibition offers people a look at a civilization from a geographical, historical and anthropological point of view but without involving ideologies.”
Milan’s Islamic Art Exhibition will run until the end of January 2011 at the city’s Palazzo Reale.
