Source: International Business Times
The first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale in 2023 attracted 600,000 visitors -- approaching the Venice Biennale AFP Under a vast canopy of tents in the Saudi city of Jeddah, religious artefacts are on display alongside contemporary art pieces, part of the kingdom's bid to transform its ultraconservative image. The second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled "And All That Is In Between", features as its centrepiece segments of the "kiswa", the black cloth embroidered with gold and silver that covers the Kaaba, the cubic building towards which all Muslims pray. Hundreds more works are on display at the west terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in the coastal city, including valuable objects on loan from London's Victoria & Albert Museum and the Louvre in Paris, and rare artefacts from the Vatican Library such as a medieval Quran in Hebrew script.
