Institut du Monde Arabe
From Paris Hotels Reviews
Institut du Monde Arabe
To the north of the Arenes de Lutece and Jardin des Plantes, a great chunk of the quartier is swallowed up by the nuch-loathed Jussieu campus building, an uncompromising structure built entirely in metal and glass around notoriously windswept internal courtyards. Built to house the baby-boomers coming of university age in the late 1960s – and to thwart any unseemly outbreaks of student rebellion with its single entrance – its population has since outgrown it once again, and it has decamped upstream to a new site. At the time of writing, the brutal skyscraper of the main Tour Zamansky stood empty, denuded of its glass cladding while vast amounts of asbestos were stripped out.
A more recent and vastly more successful piece of modern metal-and-glass architecture stands immediately to the north. The Institut du Monde Arabe (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; www.imarabe.org; M° Jussieu/Cardinal-Lemoine) is a stunning and readical piece of architectural engineering, designed by the architect of the moment, Jean Nouvel, who subsequently built the ambitious Fondation Cartier and the brand-new Musée du Quai Branly (see shutters which modulate the light levels inside while simultaneously mimicking a moucharabiya, the traditional Arab latticework balcony. Unfortunately, the computer system operating the little steel diaphragms has a habit of crashing, so you may not get to see the full effect. On the riverfront side of the building, a boldly curving curtain wall of glass seems to symbolize the transition from the glass box behind to the flowing water at its feet. To the north, the Pont de Sully cuts across to the tip of the Ile-St-Louis, providing a fine view downstream towards Notre-Dame./
Inside the Institute, hit exhibitions and concerts pull in the curious, open-minded visitors sought by its creators – the Mitterrand government in collaboration with the Arab League. A sleek permanent museum (€5) begins on the seventh floor, using an array of exquisite artefacts to trace the evolution of the arts and sciences in the Islamic world. The topmost level, dedicated to pre-Islamic finds, is somewhat surprising, as the Carthaginian sculptures and pottery display a distinctly Romal influence, while a beautiful seventh-century Tunisians mosaic hails from an early church. One floor down, brass celestial globes, astrolabes, compasses and sundials illustrate the cutting-edge Arab research that so influenced the West in the middle Ages, along with illustrated manuscripts, weights and measures, and the grinding and mixing implements for medicines. But the museum’s treasures are kept on the lowest floor, with exquisitely crafted ceramics, metalwork and carpets from all over the Muslim world – from Spain to Central Asia.
On other levels there are a library and multi-media centre for scholars, a space for temporary exhibitions, a specialist bookshop that sells good Arab music CDs, and an auditorium for regular films and concerts, often featuring leading performers from the Arab world. Up on the ninth floor, the terrace offers brilliant views over the Seine towards the apse of Notre-Dame. At the adjacent café-restaurant you can drink mint tea and nibble on cakes; for something more substantial there’s the self-service restaurant Le Moucharabieh where you can tuck into a plate of couscous while marveling at the aperture action of the windows.
