Religion på museer i de arabiske Golf-stater – islam og universalisme

Abstract

This article focuses on how religion is exhibited in new museums in the Arab Gulf states. The article focuses in particular on the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a ranch of the Louvre Paris, which opened in 2017 with the ambition of being a ‘universal’ museum that, among other things, makes religion central to the history of civilizations and innovatively, both in the Gulf but also in general, exhibits different religions side by side. In recent years, a number of new, large museums have been built in the Arab Gulf states – and more are on the way. The Louvre is part of Abu Dhabi’s launch of several different museums on Saadiyat Island, and Qatar is known for its Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and a spectacular National Museum. The article also shows how these new museums further develop a museum tradition which was founded in the first years of the Gulf states as independent states, among other things with great involvement from archeology and anthropology in Aarhus.