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 These Last Days News - November 19, 2014

Vatican Partners with Islamic Museum for Unique Exhibition...

"Arrogance, pride is always the beginning of the end.  It is only in the simple hearts of man, the simple hearts, the child-like candor of an adult, that the truth will be found and the way.  I am the way!  No one shall come to the Father but through Me, for I am the way.  All who deny My visit to your world, all who have not accepted Me as the Messiah, they are against Me, and as such, will seek to destroy all who uphold the truth." - Jesus, August 5, 1974

"My Son died a cruel death upon His cross for you.  He could not die for all, for only many have made themselves ready to come across the veil.  Though We wished in Our hearts, all of Heaven wished that man would all turn from his ways, ways that offend the Eternal Father much, and return onto the narrow road that will lead him directly back to the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven-however, man has chosen to set himself upon the wide road filled with earthly pleasures.  The sins of the flesh are condemning many to hell, My children." - Our Lady, April 1, 1978

Deutsche Welle reported on June 23, 2014:

Ulrike al-Khamis has outdone herself. In a project that began six years ago, the art historian from Germany was tasked with bringing the extensive collections of the Emir of Sharjah into shape when the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization was renovated and re-opened. The exhibition she is now presenting in a sparkling domed building almost the size of a soccer field has exceeded expectations.

"It is the first collaboration of the Vatican with an Arab country," said al-Khamis. Indeed, the exhibition is one-of-a-kind - not only because it presents excellent artworks but also because it furthers dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

A mashup of Western arts, Islam and Buddhism

The artworks on show from the Ethnological Museum of the Vatican stem from the 12th to the 19th century, but also include valuable objects from everyday life in the Arab world. Vases and bracelets, seals and armor, tapestries and precious daggers are on display. All the works come from the Islamic region between Morocco and Sudan all the way to Western China, but are now owned by the Vatican.

Many of the objects embody the dialogue between the Muslim and Western worlds. There's a dime-sized Koran produced in a print shop in Glasgow, and yellow mugs from Western China that bear an Arabic inscription surrounded by lotus flowers, which are a Buddhist symbol.

"We had only one year to prepare this show," said Ulrike al-Khamis. When the German art expert began advising in Sharjah, one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, she did not know what she was getting herself into.

"I traveled to Rome with my colleagues. We, the experts from Sharjah, and some Christian art historians searched the chambers of the Vatican together and discovered several pieces that had never been exhibited before," she recalled.

The result is a unique show in Sharjah that presents a comprehensive look at Islam.

Presents for the Pope

Most of the objects now on show had arrived in the Vatican in 1925 when Pope Pius XI hosted a kind of international cultural exhibition comprised of gifts presented to him from private donors and missionaries stationed all around the world. There were artworks by Australian aborigines as well as pieces from Latin America, Asia and Polynesia. From the Islamic world, there were swords and seals, jewelry and garments. It was a truly global exhibition.

Around 100,000 works of art were collected in Rome for the show, but needed a permanent location after that. In 1926, the Pope established a new museum to keep the works, the Ethnological Museum, which was housed in the Lateran Palace. Half a century later, the museum was relocated to its present site in the Vatican.

However, it has been shut down several times since then and never fully reopened. The museum's current director, Father Nicola Mapelli, has sought to make the collection's works available via partnerships with other cultural institutions - such as the Museum of Islamic Civilization in Sharjah.

The art of diplomacy

In the case of Sharjah, the Vatican's museum found a like-minded partner. The small emirate is led by Sultan al-Qasimi, an intellectual interested in culture who's written a number of books himself and is interested in furthering intercultural dialogue. More than 20 years ago, al-Qasimi launched the most important biennial for contemporary art in the Arab world, the Sharjah Biennial, and more than 40 museums have been established under his reign.

The fact that Rome is lending its works for the first time is an act of diplomacy in line with Pope Francis's current policies. While Pope Benedict XVI had distanced himself from other religions, his successor is pursuing a different policy. In October last year, during a speech for the sponsors of the Ethnological Museum, Pope Francis pointed out the unifying role of culture in religious, social and moral matters.

In the exhibition catalog, the Vatican writes that it will treat the Islamic objects "with the same amount of respect as the Leonardos, Raffaels and Michaelangelos." Fittingly, the title of the exhibition is "So that you may know each other." which is actually a verse from the Koran in response to the question of why people are so different.

Mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims is exactly what the exhibition aims at. Taking history into account, dialogue between the religious groups cannot be taken for granted.

"The Eternal Father has created every living being upon earth, and as a good Father, a loving Father, He wishes that all are saved.  But it is a sad truth, My child and My children: though He wishes all to be saved, only a few will be saved.
   "He died, My Son, a torturous death of heart and body upon the cross, for all.  But only many were ready, and only many could be called." - Our Lady, May 30, 1978

A great obligation to go forward... "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for it is by merit and the prayers that have risen to Heaven for your salvation.  For those who have received the grace to hear the Message from Heaven, you have a great obligation to go forward and bring this Message to your brothers and sisters.  Do not expect a rest upon your earth, for you will have eternal rest very soon." - Jesus, June 12, 1976

The sin of omission...  "The sin of omission shall condemn many to hell, be they layman or Hierarchy.  I repeat:  not the sin of commission, but the sin of omission will commit many to hell."  Our Lady of the Roses,  October 6, 1980

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