Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque’s Big Chandelier was returned to Morocco after it appeared at the Louvre Museum in Paris France.
Moroccans have expressed their discontent on both social media and the real world as Al-Qarawiyyin’s Big Chandelier that ‘went missing’ in 2014 reappeared at the Louvre.
The information that came out earlier this week reveal that contrary to what is circulating, the chandelier was not ‘stolen’ but merely exhibited in an exposition at the mentioned museum. The Ministry of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs stated that the 11 century old chandelier has now been returned and it is currently in the Batha Museum in Fez.
In response to a question about the veracity of the claims that it was stolen Mohamed Ba Haja, regional delegate of the Ministry in question said last Sunday that the Big Chandelier was not stolen but transferred beside 300 other Moroccan artifacts to the French museum to take part in the exposition, dubbed Medieval Morocco.
The exhibition, which ran from 4 March to 3 June 2015, was under the patronage of Princess Lalla Meriem, who represented King Mohamed VI, and saw the attendance of the then French president François Hollande.
The source goes on to say that the chandelier weighs about 1700 kg (3747 lbs) and has a diameter of 2.10 meters (6.8 feet) and a height of 2.35 (7.7 feet). Therefore, its dismantling and reinstallation require a specialized firm.
The source also adds that the Moroccan exposition managed to attract a record of 180,000 visitors in this period thanks to the historical value of these medieval artifacts
