The exhibition "Wonder and Inspiration Venice and the Arts of Islam" presents a selection from the rich collection of works of art and documents preserved by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, in collaboration with the Sharjah Museums Authority, which is hosted at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization through a display of 72 objects.

It aims to demonstrate the intensity and the profitability of the cultural and artistic exchanges between Venice and the Islamic culture along a chronological period between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age.

The exhibition is articulated in three chapters: Encounters, Dialogues, and Inspirations. Each chapter includes important documents and groups of objects of both Islamic and Venetian art. 

The first chapter Encounters expresses the ways of meeting and knowledge between Venice and the Islamic world. The section includes some ancient objects from the East, as official gifs presented to the Doge, the head of the Serenissima Republic.

The second chapter tells and illustrates how immediately these encounters became reciprocal Dialogues, rich of interests and opportunities, for both sides and on many different levels (trading, science, literature, art).

The third chapter Inspirations exemplifies with a rich sampling of works 'in comparison' - both Islamic originals and objects realized in Venice – how the two cultures influenced each other about the techniques, the decorative styles, the ornaments.

Click here to visit the exhibition Virtually!