Can’t go to the museum? The museum goes to your home.
- Enjoy art from home: The Lasting Success of the Astrolabe
- View our free e-catalogue for: Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry between East and West
- Best Art Books to Read from Home: Weekly suggestions by Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Staff!
- A 360 Virtual Tour for: Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry Between East and West
- Discover e-learning resources: Enhance your experience through engaging questions and interactive activities from your homes
Art from Home: The Lasting Success of the Astrolabe
A weekly selection of artwork highlights
By measuring the position and altitude of stars, the astrolabe can tell the time and thus allow users to calculate their geographic position. Invented by the Greeks and perfected by the Arabs from the 8th century, the astrolabe was of major importance for navigation on the high seas.
The astrolabe is a Greek invention, and the first known specimens, regarded as the work of Hipparchus of Nicaea, date from the 2nd century BCE. The existence of a 4th-century treatise by Theon of Alexandria enabled the Arabs to adopt this instrument, which was then considerably improved by Islamic scholars and started to be more widely used – first, under the Umayyad Dynasty in Syria and, later, in Iraq. The astrolabes then found their way to Europe via the Spanish Peninsula and Sicily.
The astrolabe was a main instrument used in medieval astronomy. Comprised of several superimposed plates, which could be used to adjust the representation of the local sky according to latitude, the astrolabe offers a flat project of the celestial sphere. The lines inscribed on it allow the user to determine the position of stars at particular times of day and night, and to tell the time from the stars’ positions. The astrolabe also helped explorers draw increasingly detailed maps of known lands.
The late specimen above from the 18th century is demonstrative of the instrument’s lasting success.
To hear the in-depth story of Astrolabe and take a closer look at the features of this masterpiece, click here.
Free E-catalogue
Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry between East and West
This unique exhibition catalogue explores the ancient roots of chivalry as well as the role of a knight in combat and the different chivalric codes that developed around the world, from Iraq and Syria in the East, to France and Spain in the West. Through over 130 rare artworks from the 10th to the beginning of the 16th centuries, including spectacular arms, armour, and rare manuscripts, discover how some of these practices and the knightly spirit became a past time, and how some of them continue around the world to this day.
Exhibition organised by Louvre Abu Dhabi, Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge and Agence France-Muséums. Edited by Élisabeth Taburet-Delahaye, Michel Huynh and Carine Juvin
The e-catalogue is available in English, Arabic and French, and can be downloaded for free during the museum’s temporarily closure.
Click here to download the catalogue.
Best Art Books to Read from Home
A weekly suggestion by Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Staff to keep you entertained!
This week’s suggestion is by Alia AlShamsi – Acting Cultural Programming Manager at Louvre Abu Dhabi:
FOR ADULTS:
The Artist in the Machine
By Arthur I. Miller
What is the future of Art? With the fast growing Artificial Intelligence industry, it is not surprising that this too has also seeped into the world of arts.
This book is an easy to read accessible to all on the technology of Ai and its role in contributing to today’s art through the diverse mediums. From composing music, to machine learning artwork and 3D sculptures, the question arises: Is Ai the new artist?
FOR CHILDREN:
Drawing From the City
By Tejubehan
The partly autobiographical, partly escapist tale of this self-taught artist who came of age as a woman trapped between unimaginable poverty and a wildly imaginative inner world in a patriarchal society.
Tejubehan takes us on a journey from her small village into the big city, where her poor parents move to find work. Three years pass. Teju is now a young woman and she marries a man who sings for a living. With his encouragement, she becomes an artist.
360 Virtual Tour:
Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry Between East and West
While Louvre Abu Dhabi is temporarily closed, you can still experience the museum’s most recent international exhibition through a 360 virtual tour available on the museum’s website. In this virtual tour, you can navigate throughout the entire exhibition and select 18 of the artworks on view for a closer look through clicking on a digital tag. Pieces include Louvre Abu Dhabi’s spectacular Ottoman Horse Armour from the late 15th century, installed alongside a European Horse and Knight Armour from the first quarter of the 16th century, on loan from Musée de l’armée; a cameo from 260 A.D. depicting the Fight between Emperor Valerian and King Shapur from the collections of Bibliothèque Nationale de France; and the Turban Helmet of Sultan Bajazet II from Musée de l’armée, among other works.
You can start taking the virtual tour here.
Engage in e-learning resources designed for children, educators and families
The Louvre Abu Dhabi learning resources aim to enhance your experience and to extend it to the classroom and homes through engaging questions and interactive activities.
The learning resources invite young and adult visitors to learn actively and make strong connections with the collection and the exhibitions by taking the lead as self-guides who direct their own experiences.
To begin your e-learning journey, click here.
For more information about Louvre Abu Dhabi, please visit www.louvreabudhabi.ae or call +971 600 56 55 66.
