Museum with a mission

Hannah Westley

• Last Updated: November 22. 2009 6:28PM UAE / November 22. 2009 2:28PM GMT

The dense evergreen valleys and snow-capped peaks of La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland might seem an unlikely place to start to break down the barriers of prejudice. But 10 years ago a small group of residents in this watch-making city decided to attempt just that.

They proposed to establish a museum that would seek not only to inform but to bring communities together and teach understanding and tolerance. This multimedia and interactive space would bring the culture and civilisation of Islam to the residents of La Chaux-de-Fonds and its many visitors.

The driving force behind the project is Nadia Karmous, president of the Cultural Association for Muslim Women in Switzerland and director of the local Muslim Institute.

She explains: “In Europe people don’t understand the Muslim world; people have preconceptions that are often wrong and through fear they reject what they don’t understand. I want our museum to be a place of peace and encounters. I would like the public to understand the important role that Muslim science and culture has played in the development of western society.”

In 1999, a handsome listed historic building was bought and Karmous set up home for her Association for Muslim Women. This five-floor building now houses a restaurant, classrooms, living accommodation and a library of 1,500 works, while two floors have been designated for the future museum.

In 2004, discussions started in earnest as to the shape and form of the museum, a team of 15 volunteers came forward, an architect was nominated along with the project director, and sponsors promised financial backing.

“We received a lot of encouragement and support for the project,” says Karmous. “Not just on a local level but from all over the world, especially from the Emirates. I’m a biochemist by training and I travelled widely for my work, so wherever I went I was able to draw interest to our project.”

If La Chaux-de-Fonds seems an unlikely home for such an undertaking, Karmous has never seen any drawback in the location. She emphasises that the region is very open to innovative projects that encourage integration.

“It isn’t as if there’s a particularly significant Muslim community here, but this region has a politics of openness and tolerance. It was the first canton to allow foreigners to vote. Another advantage of creating the museum here is that we already have the International Clockmaking Museum, which attracts many visitors every year and is only 150 metres away from our building.”

Everything was set to carry the project forward and the realisation of the Museum of Islamic Civilisations seemed within reach. But then came the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the plans went haywire.

“Before 9/11 a lot of financial promises had been made which afterwards fell through. It was nothing to do with people becoming suddenly afraid of the project but more to do with governments’ attitudes and their policies concerning investment abroad. For example, some of those promises had been made by Muslim sponsors in the States who, after 9/11, were unable to transfer funds abroad.”

More recently, the economic crisis has made it impossible for other sponsors to come through with their offers of finance. But Karmous insists that, despite these obstacles, she and her group of volunteers remain committed to their project.

“We’ve decided come what may to re-launch the project. We’ve come so far and we’re missing just 45 per cent of the capital we need, in other words around €3.5 million (Dh19m). We intend to do presentations in different countries so we can bring our plans to as wide an audience as possible in the hope of garnering more support. This project is unique. There isn’t another museum like it in Europe. I’ve set myself the challenge of acquiring the necessary remaining funds by 2010.”

According to the project director, Khaldoun Dia-Eddine, who is in charge of developing the museum’s content, its goals will be threefold – to provide a meeting place that will function as a bridge to connect Islamic and western cultures; to correct erroneous conceptions among western observers through the illustration of the contribution by Islam and Muslims to both science and civilisation; and finally to re-introduce Islam to Muslims, in particular young generations of Muslim communities in the West, for whom it should provide a source of answers concerning Islamic culture and identity.

Dia-Eddine says that the museum’s originality will stem from its focus on Islamic civilisations using science as the framework.

“We want to look at scientific achievements not as the accomplishment of a single individual but as progress made by a community. Moving away from the old-fashioned notion of a museum as being something static and unchanging, we’re looking towards the ‘new museum’ model. We want our museum to be not just a tool but a joyful and educational experience.

“Old-fashioned museums were all about looking at objects, there was no contact with the displays. Our museum will be all about contact. We want visitors to enter into contact with each other, with the displays and with the personnel. The museum should also become a platform for dialogue, for lectures, meetings and we could also produce publications. Obviously there are many challenges facing us.”

He added: “Our goal is the work of integration through the medium of information.”

Karmous is adamant that, despite any problems they might face raising the rest of the capital, they will remain independent and not depend on state grants or subsidies.

“There are several reasons why we don’t want to ask for state subsidies. Most importantly we want to have creative control of the museum. In the past when we’ve asked for grants to raise money for exhibitions, we’ve been subject to various conditions. Those who give the money pull the strings – and we want to be free. Later, the museum will have to pay for itself – for example, people will have to pay to get in.

“Furthermore, we’re a Muslim minority and we’re open to criticism and attacks from racists and those people in the community who don’t have an understanding of Islamic culture. If the state were to give us money, we would lay ourselves open to the sort of discourse that wonders why the state is subsidising projects for people ‘who aren’t from around here’.”

“So,” says Karmous, “we’re looking for sponsorship mainly from the Muslim community and it turns out that it’s the women in the community who take the most interest. They realise that we have a duty to communicate, to help people to understand the Muslim civilisation and culture.”

Dia-Eddine emphasises: “We asked the canton of La Chaux-de-Fonds to check on any funds that come to us. We’re not obliged to do this, there are no laws pertaining to this, but we chose to ask them to implement a check so there can be the greatest possible transparency around our finances. We want to reassure our sponsors.”

The project’s architect, Ziad Kazan, explains that for him what will make this museum unique is that it has a cultural rather than a religious orientation.

He says: “Because we don’t have an enormous amount of space, we have to be innovative when it comes to our displays. The concept of a multimedia exhibition arose for several reasons – we want the displays to be cutting-edge but due to our lack of budget we couldn’t build a traditional, object-based display even if we wanted to. In this respect we have to make the displays both interesting and flexible. Hence we came up with the idea of thematic and experiential journey through Islamic civilisations. We don’t want the lack of space to limit the visitor’s experience.”

Karmous says: “I want every room to be a different experience, a journey into an Islamic region. I want there to be things to see and experience as if we were there. To understand a region and its people, you have to travel. Today most people don’t have the means or the time. And we want the museum to be a point of reference in the community.”

Muslims constitute 4.3 per cent of the Swiss population – about 350,000 people. On November 29, Swiss citizens will vote in a referendum to decide whether minarets on mosques should be banned. A recent poll indicated that the majority would vote against the measure, demanded by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, but that a not insignificant 34 per cent will vote for it.

Is there greater discrimination against Muslims in Europe now than there used to be?

Karmous, who is Franco-Algerian but has lived at La Chaux-de-Fonds for 16 years, replies: “I don’t think there’s more discrimination today than there was before. Of course there is discrimination – particularly at an employment level – but that’s been exacerbated by the financial crisis. Foreigners are the first to lose out.

“But I think the major problem that we have to tackle is ignorance. A lot of people seem to think that being a Muslim is something new because they hear about Muslims on the news. For many people Islam is a religion of ignorance – Muslims are shut away from society, women don’t receive an education etc. We want to address those misconceptions.”