An Introduction to The Arcadian Library 1 by Dr Robert ... - Wolfsberg

An Introduction to The Arcadian Library 4
by Dr Robert Jones
creative dynamic when East and West resolve or just ignore their differences
and join forces to exchange knowledge and bring about positive change and
understanding. Looking at Pascal Coste’s beautiful views of the mosques of
Cairo, do we really have to regard them as part of a devious conspiracy as
some would have us believe
6. The Arcadian Library has exhibited books at the Institut du Monde
Arabe in Paris, twice at the Brunei Gallery in London, and in 2001, we
mounted a joint exhibition in Antwerp at the Plantin-Moretus Museum. This
wonderful museum of printing history is in the 16 th -century house of the printer
Christophe Plantin, who was greatly interested in the Arab world and whose
son in law, Franciscus Raphelengius, wrote the first Arabic-Latin dictionary to
be printed with Arabic type. The title of the exhibition summed up the rich
melange of influences: Arab Culture and Ottoman Magnificence in Antwerp’s
Golden Age.
7/8. John Ronayne designed and set up the exhibitions in the Brunei
Gallery and here in Wolfsberg. As you see in Antwerp, he completely
transformed the Plantin museum with this installation.
Just two months after 9/11, the exhibition attracted a large audience and
much critical acclaim including the comment by the Financial Times reviewer
who wrote: ‘In a sea of contemporary mistrust, [the Arcadian exhibition] is a
small, clear plea for understanding.’ Perhaps these words express the most
we can expect in terms of relevance from a private library of books. The
Arcadian Library is just that: a small, clear plea for understanding.
Here in 2011 on the wooded shores of Lake Constance, we are in a quite
different milieu to Paris, London or Antwerp. We are just minutes away from
the birthplace at Kesswill of one of the 20 th -century’s most original thinkers,
Carl Gustav Jung;