Kuwait donated five million euros to the Louvre for an exhibition on Islam

Paris/Kuwait - For the equipment of the new wing of the Paris Louvre, which aims to open a permanent exhibition of Islamic art in 2009, Kuwait has donated five million euros (approximately 140 million CZK), the French newspaper Le Monde reported today. The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Salim Sabah had promised the funds last November, and the transaction was reportedly completed this Monday.
    According to a statement from the Kuwaiti embassy in Paris, "Kuwait wants to contribute to strengthening cultural cooperation with France in general, and especially with the Louvre."
    The Kuwaiti financial donation to the Louvre is not the first, Le Monde writes. Sheikh Mohammed Sabah had already inaugurated the exhibition "World Treasures" at the Louvre in July 2006, which he contributed to with his collection of Mughal art.
    Besides the donation to the Louvre, Kuwait reportedly also announced a financial grant to the Paris Institute of the Arab World (IMA) amounting to one million euros (approximately 28 million CZK).