The Institute of the Arab World in the French capital, Paris, opened an exhibition of the collection of gold coins, which belongs to Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, depicting all the twelve signs of the astrological (zodiac) signs of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir.
The inauguration on Tuesday was attended by the head of the institute, the former French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Abdullah, Kuwait’s ambassador to France, Muhammad Al-Judaea, and the French ambassador to Kuwait, HE Claire Le Flecher, reports Al-Rai daily.
In a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), the institute’s president expressed his pride in presenting the “rare and complete” golden group of astrological constellations, stressing that it was an “extraordinary event” that Sheikh Mubarak succeeded in finding and presenting in full in Paris.
For his part, Sheikh Mubarak stressed, in a similar statement to KUNA, the importance of this rare group of gold coins historically, explaining that it depicts all signs of the astrological constellations that have survived from melting over the ages, and that their historical and symbolic value cannot be estimated.
He added, “The Zodiac series still holds special interest for coin collectors because of the pictorial devices that were skillfully engraved by Indian die-cutters at the highest artistic level.”
He stated, “Such exceptional coins, which reflect the cultural flourishing in Islamic arts and sciences in India and are rarely seen now in museums or coin organizations, illustrate the link between Greco-Roman culture and the Arab-Islamic world. We are proud today to present a symbol of openness to the world.”
