Pages from one of the earliest copies of the Holy Qur’an are part of the historic treasures on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris in a new exhibition.
The exhibition, titled ‘The Splendours of Uzbekistan’s Oases,’ includes over 170 works from the country’s history, including acclaimed wall art, Buddhist sculptures, and items of daily use from ancient civilizations.
Archeologist Rocco Rante, who has been excavating in Uzbekistan’s Bukhara Oasis since 2009, is a co-curator of the exhibition. The region was originally a major destination on the Silk Road trade route that stretched through modern-day Uzbekistan a few thousand years ago, linking the Mediterranean to the Far East.
Two pages from the Katta Langar Holy Quran, one of the world’s earliest surviving Quran manuscripts going back to the early days of Islam, are the main attraction. For generations, it was kept safe in a tomb in a little settlement high on a mountaintop.
The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Louvre Museum and Uzbekistan’s Art and Culture Development Foundation, welcomes visitors on a 1,600-year political and historical journey through Uzbek civilization, beginning in the first century BC.
The exhibits will be on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris until 6 March 2023.
