Saudi Arabia: Vatican Library at Islamic Arts Biennale in Jedda

By Vatican News

The Vatican Apostolic Library has announced its participation in the Islamic Arts Biennale, showcasing several pieces from its collections. The event will take place from 25 January to 25 May, 2025, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Organised by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the exhibition will be hosted at the Hajj terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport, a major hub designed to handle the vast number of pilgrims traveling to perform the sacred journeys of Hajj and Umrah. The terminal holds deep meaning for Muslims around the world as it accommodates millions of visitors on their way to Mecca each year.

A hub of art and culture

This unique cultural event celebrates Islamic civilisation through its artistic and scientific achievements. It aims to be a place of creative exchange, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the contributions of Islamic art and culture to the contemporary world. The Biennale promotes the diversity of artistic expressions within Islamic art globally and seeks to foster understanding and collaboration between cultures, linking past, present, and future. It will showcase a wide array of contemporary art and historical artifacts through an immersive, multi-sensory experience.

International team of curators

The inaugural edition of the Biennale in 2023 attracted over 600,000 visitors, and the 2025 event continues this tradition, presenting historical artifacts alongside contemporary works of art in a rich and continuous dialogue. The exhibition is curated by an international team, led by Artistic Directors Abdul Rahman Azzam, a renowned historian and author who served as Senior Expert Advisor for AlMadar in 2023; Julian Raby, a distinguished scholar and former professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at Oxford University and former Director of the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution; and Amin Jaffer, Director of the Al Thani Collection and a scholar specialising in the intersections of European and Asian cultures. Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, known for exploring spirituality and the role of imagination in shaping reality, serves as the Contemporary Art Curator. The Biennale will cover 110,000 square meters of exhibition space and will include the publication of a comprehensive catalog of the featured works.

Art from Museums, Libraries, and Collections Worldwide

AlMadar (The Orbit) will feature a diverse selection of objects from museums, libraries, and collections around the world. It will offer a comprehensive exploration of the art of numbers, from its origins in nature to its varied applications in Islamic culture, including advancements in mathematics, celestial and terrestrial mapping, navigation and trade, religious rituals and spiritual life, Quranic organisation and decoration, geometry, proportion, Arabic text design, and architecture. Contemporary artworks will accompany the exhibition, examining the theme of numbers in the modern world, including site-specific installations.