Museum confident Islamic treasures will be safe

By WAYNE THOMPSON

The Auckland War Memorial Museum is going ahead with plans made last year to stage an exhibition of 120 Islamic art treasures from Kuwait.

The treasures were looted by Iraq during the Gulf War but later returned.

Police have had to approve security arrangements for this month's exhibition, Islamic Art and Patronage, as a condition of the Government's stepping in to indemnify the precious artefacts against loss or damage.

Museum director Rodney Wilson said prudent security measures were being taken, as would be expected for any important exhibition. He would not disclose the value of the collection.

Ranging from jewel-encrusted daggers to 9th-century ceramics and illustrated texts, the exhibition includes some of the world's finest examples of Islamic arts in the al-Sabah collection, which is housed at the Kuwait National Museum.

Dr Wilson said he did not expect the exhibition to draw protests.

"It could not be more timely because it rounds out the picture of the achievements and diversity of Islamic history and culture.

"We ... don't hear too often that so much of our Western knowledge is based on the achievements of Arab scholars and scientists."

Dr Wilson said the show was stunningly beautiful and he thought New Zealanders would look at it with a roundness and maturity.

The collection was formed by two leading members of the Kuwaiti royal family, Sheikh Nasir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hassah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah.

During the 1990 Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, the Kuwait National Museum was ransacked and heavily damaged by Saddam Hussein's troops.

The collection was carried off to Iraq but was returned largely intact the following year.

Since then 30,000 pieces have mostly either been in storage or touring the world's museums.

The museum board approved the special exhibition early in December.

Since then, war has broken out in Iraq and neighbouring Kuwait is being used as a launching pad by coalition forces heading for Baghdad.

The war has affected some arrangements made for the exhibition. A Kuwaiti Air Force transport aircraft was to have brought it from its previous host, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

Dr Wilson said the aircraft was withdrawn and instead the Kuwaitis paid for the exhibition to be carried in a commercial airliner, saving the museum tens of thousands of dollars in freight costs.

Dr Wilson said the artefacts, which had now arrived in Auckland, were created between the 8th and 18th centuries.

They were produced in countries ranging from Spain to India and throughout the Middle East.

Islamic Art and Patronage will run from April 17 to June 15.