Architecturally striking, the Institute of Arabic Culture is easily identifiable from across the Seine. Looking down from Notre Dame, or across from the Ile St.-Louis, you notice this one curvy, modern steel structure standing out against the overwhelming beige of the rest of the city.
The building is incredible. It houses a museum, a library, a bookstore, an auditorium, and a movie theatre. When I went, the main exhibit at the museum foregrounded the Coptic Art of Egypt, “two-thousand years of Christianity”—a significant, if often overlooked, part of the country’s history.
The exhibit was interesting, not thrilling, and I spent most of my time in the bookstore, which was amazing. They have pr
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