FINE ART

Louvre Opens Islamic Wing

Amid tensions over satirical Muhammad cartoon.

Talk about opportune timing. France’s Louvre Museum is unveiling a new wing dedicated to the arts of Islam, a decade-long and nearly £100 million project that is finally coming to fruition just as tensions between the West and the Muslim world are coming to a head. The dragonfly-shaped extension is the museum’s largest and most significant development since its iconic glass pyramid was constructed in 1989. While the project has been generally well received, its opening comes less than a week after a French satirical magazine published caricatures mocking the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons further incensed the Muslim world just days after an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. sparked violent protests in the Middle East.