In Chatou, a museum dedicated to Sufi art and culture has just opened

The building, a 19th century mansion^e century pure juice on the banks of the Seine, took its time (more than 10 years) and put in the means (around 5 million euros) to get a makeover. From its floors, captivating musicplayed on the setar and the harp, rises… Against a background of oud, we perceive poetic verses, sung in Persian and Arabic. The mystique is there, ready to pluck you.

Inaugurated on September 28 in Chatou, the MTO Sufi Art and Culture Museum (known as “Macs MTO”) is the first institution in the world dedicated to the exploration of Sufism through contemporary culture and art. In his garden, the cypresses haven’t really grown yet, but the rose bushes and jasmines are already blooming. In a few years, we hope to pick fruit there. The gentle lapping of the central fountain completes this decor designed as a earthly paradise.

About thirty minutes from Châtelet-Les Halles, via the RER A, this new place in Yvelines offers a domestic journey. Designed and supported by a school of Sufism, the project has come a long way. “It dates back to the 1970s and the Sufi master Hazrat Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha (1916–1980), 41^e master of the Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi (MTO) Shahmaghsoudi school of Sufism,” says Claire Bay, president of Macs MTO.

Journey to the heart of Sufism

“Sufism is not a religion, but a spiritual movement, it is a very ancient wisdom. »

Alexandra Baudelot

Now in Chatou, we can admire some 300 pieces (objects, sculptures, paintings, ceramics, mirrors, textiles, calligraphies, etc.) from the collections of 150 MTO schools around the world, which bring together more than a million students. The Macs MTO also benefits from insightful support from art industry experts and academicsand the financial contribution of two American and Canadian philanthropic organizations, the Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture and Knowledge.

What do we discover there? Spread over three floors, the 600 m² exhibition spaces of the MTO Museum of Sufi Art and Culture offer visitors the opportunity to “follow the journey of a Sufi in his inner quest,” explains the museum’s director, Alexandra Baudelot. Sufism is not a religion, but a spiritual movement, it is a very ancient wisdom,” she insists. “It is commonly considered to be the mystical dimension of Islamadds the specialist, but nevertheless, we find disciples in all faiths: Sufism is a question of self-knowledge which leads to knowledge of God. »

Meeting with a Sufi master

In this mystical quest, the first room guides us among sublime traveler’s canes, and leads us to discover beautiful kashkulalms bowls in engraved coco de mer, between costumes, rings, rosaries, Korans. An alcove illustrates the complexity of the paths of Sufism, an initiatory chain whose branches go back from master to master, up to the prophet Mohammed. The famous gyrating dance of the “whirling dervishes” corresponds, for example, to the disciples of the great Sufi poet Djalal al-Din Rumî (1207–1273).

Very successful, a period room gives voice to a Sufi master, who emerges in his reconstituted desk with its calligraphic manuscriptsas if by magic, in the form of a hologram. Take the time to hear some precepts : “you will know your being when you succeed in eliminating its limitations. »

Artists from diverse cultures

God is beautiful and loves beauty. Thus Sufism promotes, in addition to knowledge and truth, art in all its forms. What testifies “An inner sky”the brilliant inaugural exhibition of Macs MTO which intends to program two exhibitions per year. For this first, which mixes with the museum’s historical collections, curator Alexandra Baudelot has brought together seven international artists. Some are Muslims, like the Moroccan Younès Rahmoun (born in 1975) who gives us work on the house, from earth to sky, as well as a brass boat (symbol of travel), carrying a seed (source of life), an installation which is sown in the garden especially for the exhibition. Others come from different cultures, like the Thai Pinaree Sanpitak (born in 1961) inspired by the roundness of female breasts which interact with the shapes of kashkul Sufis.

The Franco-American’s shimmering colored paintings Seffa Klein28 years old and granddaughter of Yves Kein, make our inner cosmos vibrate through the use of bismuth, a non-radioactive metal formed during events with a high energetic charge – hypnotizing. Not far away, Bianca Bondi (born in 1986) drew her inspiration from the Seine and the surrounding nature to reinvent the rituals. The course ends with a silicone installation of the Zimbabwean Troy Makaza (born in 1994) dealing with the visible and the invisible. Among Sufis, God is both close and inaccessible. It is a hidden treasure, but the sign of it is found in the hearts of all beings.