The Show, Open Until January 23, 2007, Includes Part of the Exhibit Presented in the Real Alcazar of Seville Last Summer
The exhibition, Ibn Khaldun. The Mediterranean in the XIVth Century, which will be inaugurated today in the National Library of Tunisia represents a review of the political, economic and social relations between the East and West and the Arab-Maghreb world in the XIVth century. On this broad geographic palette united by the Mediterranean, European and Muslim states are portrayed through their cultures and conflicts, their commercial exchanges and economic organization, as well as the artistic legacy of this period.
As well, the organizers also want to show visitors the contributions of al-Andalus in different fields, its political, commercial, intellectual and philosophical evolution and its Mediterranean projection.After its five-month presence (May-September, 2006) in Seville's Real Alcazar, where it was seen by more than half a million visitors, a part of this exhibition now travels to the new home of Tunisia's National Library. The show forms part of the celebration this year of the VIth Centennial of the death of Ibn Khaldun-the best-known Arab-Muslim thinker of the XIVth century. Born in Tunisia of andalusí descent, Ibn Khaldun visited Andalusia, living in the Nasrid court of Muhammad V. Social historian and celebrated author of the Muqqadima, Ibn Khaldun, unlike his predecessors, does not limit his portrayal of history to a list of past events. He was a historian concerned with the logic of empires, with their expansion and decline, and his contribution to the reflections on the formation of states is considerable. The life and work of this "father of the sociology of history," as he is known by specialists in the field, is valid for all times and places.This exhibition has been organized by Spain's State Society for Cultural Action Abroad (Seacex); the Legacy of al-Andalus Foundation, an institution under the Cultural and Tourism, Commerce and Sports Councils of the Junta de Andalucía regional government. It also enjoys the support of Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Patrimonial Protection Authority of the Tunisian Republic, as well as the participation of different Spanish and Tunisian institutions. The objectives of the organizers of this exhibit are to disseminate the rich historical relations between Spain And Tunisia and to promote cultural relations between the two countries.The exhibition designed for the new National Library building in Tunis, brings together large-format graphic panels which portray a comparative chronology of the XIVth century, and a summary of the life of the philosopher, Ibn Khaldun. The exhibit accords special relevance to the role of science and letters in the Mediterranean environment, and to Ibn Khaldun's contemporaries related with different areas of human knowledge, such as Dante, Petrarch or Bocaccio, or the Tunisians Ibn 'Arafa and al-Tidjani, as well as the lifelong itinerary of the inveterate traveller, Ibn Khaldun. In addition, the show features 15 museum pieces, originals and facsimiles, among which figure a XIVth-century Timur-Persian lamp, ceramic cooking utensils from XIVth-century Granada, a Mudejar ceramic tile of Sevillan origin of the same period, and a set of astronomical tables. Also noteworthy are original and facsimile manuscripts of XIVth-century literary works such as Les Chroniques of Jean de Froissart, a folio manuscript of a Mameluke Koran from the same period, the Book of Good Love by Juan Ruiz "Arcipreste de Hita" (University Library of Salamanca), la Rime by Petrarch, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and Boccacio's Decameron. The National Librrary of Tunisia has contributed two XVIII-century manuscripts from Ibn Khaldun's Kitab al-'Ibar, Al-Mujtassar al-Shâmil by Ibn 'Arafa (manuscript copy from the XVIIIth century), and Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi gara'ib al-amsar by Ibn Battuta (a XIXth-century manuscript copy).
