It has the reek of the black-frocked missionary sniffing down his nose at the primitives animism without ever wondering if his own wine-and-a-cracker deity might not be just as phony as the numinous spirits of the riverbeds and pine forests.

FORBES: Quote for the Day

The flooring is dark, the passageways plain and the lighting democratic, giving shards of earthenware as much attention as finely woven rugs from Iran, a jewel-encrusted dagger from Mughal India or 14th-century enameled blown-glass lamps from Egypt and Syria that are about as close to numinous as objects can get.

WSJ: Islamic Art at the Louvre | By Lee Lawrence