A Saudi billionaire has donated more than 17m euros (أ‚آ£11.7m or $20.5m) towards building an Islamic art gallery at the Louvre museum in Paris.
Prince Walid bin Talal said he hoped the gallery would help people to gain an understanding of Islam as a religion of humanity and tolerance.
The donation follows the recent London attacks, which have been blamed on British-born Muslims.
The Louvre says the new wing will house its Islamic art collection.
The museum says it has 10,000 artefacts from Islamic civilisation, ranging from Spain to India - most of which is now in storage because of lack of space.
The museum says the new wing will cost nearly 58m euros.
"It will reinforce understanding between Western and Islamic cultures and civilisations," Reuters quoted the prince as saying. |