Higher Education. The Strasbourg BNU is making great strides with its Oriental Museum project.

With 700,000 annual visitors, the Strasbourg National and University Library has doubled its attendance in ten years. Now boasting a full-fledged cultural season, it is moving forward with its Museum of the Orient project. The City of Strasbourg is considering a location in the Ancienne-Douane.

Alain Colas, director of the National and University Library (BNUS) in Strasbourg. Photo Jean-Marc Loos

The Museum of Near and Middle Eastern Art and Archaeology already exists in a way. The National and University Library of Strasbourg is rich in 12,000 archaeological pieces, including 5,500 papyri (the second largest collection in France), 500 cuneiform tablets, hundreds of ancient coins, and more.

Thanks to a partnership concluded with the Louvre Museum in 2017, temporary repositories from the departments of Oriental archaeology, Islamic arts, and soon Byzantine and Eastern Christian arts (from 2027) are visible in Strasbourg, notably on the occasion of temporary exhibitions, such as "Mari in Syria" in 2024. However, a dedicated location is missing.

"This museum offering, completely open to the world, does not exist in...

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