The Mamluk Empire at the Louvre: A Journey into Medieval East
Till July 28th, 2025, the Louvre Museum, in Paris, France, is dedicating a major exhibition to the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517), an empire that flourished between Egypt and Syria and played a central role in the cultural and political history of the Middle East during the Islamic era. More than a historical showcase, the exhibition offers an immersive journey into a fascinating world of military power, artistic sophistication, and social diversity.
 Reception of a Venetian embassy by the governor of Damascus, © GrandPalaisRmn, Louvre Museum. Ph: Gabriel de Carvalho
Bringing together 260 works from international collections — including manuscripts, luxury objects, textiles, ceramics, carved wood pieces, and enameled glass — the exhibition reconstructs the visual imagination of a society that, although little known outside specialized circles, was one of the most influential in the medieval Islamic world.
LEFT: Incense burner of al-Nasir Muhammad © The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Ph: Samar Kassab; RIGHT: Armour of Sultan Qaytbay CC0, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Elite Warriors: The Unique Origin of the Mamluks
The Mamluk Sultanate was born from a unique system: military slaves, usually of Turkic or Caucasian origin, who were captured or purchased in childhood and educated in religious and military disciplines. These men, known as “Mamluks” formed a warrior elite that rose to power, ruling over Egypt and Syria for more than two centuries. They defeated the last Crusader strongholds, confronted the Mongols, and held off threats from neighbouring empires such as the Ottomans—until eventually succumbing to Ottoman expansion.
Social mobility within this structure was based on merit and loyalty to the sultan, making the Mamluk system an exception in both the medieval Islamic and Christian worlds, where lineage typically determined an individual's destiny. This logic of advancement through military and administrative competence contributed to political stability and the formation of a highly disciplined, functional aristocracy.
LEFT: Treatise of Furusiyya - From the British Library Collection; RIGHT: Bottle with sinister decoration © Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region – General inventory photo Frédéric Pauvarel
Between Sword and Scholarship: The Diversity of Mamluk Society
But the Mamluk legacy goes far beyond warfare. This complex and cosmopolitan society was composed not only of sultans and emirs but also merchants, artisans, scholars, Sufi mystics, and Christian and Jewish minorities. It was a world where women also played active roles and where patronage flourished. A melting pot of cultural influences that connected Africa, Asia, and Europe — a richness reflected in the artistic and intellectual depth of the objects on display.
The Mamluk territory was a strategic crossroads between three continents. Precious goods, artistic repertoires, religious ideas, and scientific knowledge flowed through its cities. This intense circulation helped to establish the empire as a cultural hub of the Arab world, where local traditions intertwined with influences from Byzantine Europe, the Maghreb, and the Persian East.
LEFT: Chamfer in the name of the Emir Muqbil al-Rumi © Lyon MBA, Ph: Martial Couderette; RIGHT: Large bird vase © Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation_Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Ph: Catarina Gomes Ferreira
Art as Power: The Visual Legacy of the Mamluks
Divided into five thematic sections, the exhibition explores Mamluk identity and their structure of power, as well as their interactions with the outside world, daily life, science, religion, and the arts. The works reveal the mastery of Mamluk artists in calligraphy, design, woodwork, metalwork, ceramics, and textiles — each piece standing as a testament to the prestige and sophistication of their patrons.
LEFT: Quran of Emir Baybars al-Jashnajir, vol 2 (c), From the British Library Collection; RIGHT: Magic Cup © 2019 Louvre Museum, dist. GrandPalaisRmn, Hervé Lewandowski
An Immersive Experience at the Heart of the Louvre
The scenography, designed by the BCG agency, offers visitors an engaging experience, with interactive mediation spaces and historical portraits that punctuate the exhibition like living windows into the past. It is a visit conceived not only to inform, but to move — inviting the public to walk through the many layers of a civilization as refined as it is underrepresented in Western museums.
More than forty years after the only major exhibition dedicated to the Mamluks (held in Washington in 1981), the Louvre now presents, for the first time in Europe, an unprecedented panorama of this forgotten empire — redefining its role as a true “Middle Kingdom” between the Christian West and the Islamic world. After Paris, the exhibition will travel to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, where it will be on view from September 17, 2025, to January 25, 2026.
LEFT: Cenotaph panel © 2011 Musée du Louvre, dist. GrandPalaisRmn Hughes Dubois; RIGHT: Shadow theatre figure © Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Ph Dominik Drasdow
Rewriting History with Multiple Voices
In times of polarisation and historical oversimplification, revisiting the sophistication and diversity of the Mamluk Sultanate is more than an act of remembrance — it is an invitation to recognise the civilisations that shaped the global world long before modernity. The Louvre’s exhibition not only sheds light on a brilliant chapter of Islamic history but also encourages visitors to reconsider the legacy of the medieval East from a renewed perspective.
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