The theatre hadn’t been used for 150 years, except by the Nazis, and so Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has restored to the French a beautiful heirloom of their culture and heritage. The renaming, meanwhile, will serve as an ever-present reminder of the present and future of France. One wonders if Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be this generous in restoring, say, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, or other French landmarks that testify to what France once was, without demanding in return even more drastic rededications.
“France: Sheikh restores and renames royal theatre,” BBC, May 2, 2014 (thanks to Ed):
An ornate theatre in the famous French Palace of Fontainebleau has been restored after 150 years of disuse, and will be named after the ruler of Abu Dhabi who funded the project, it’s been reported.
The 400-seat Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Theatre, inaugurated on Wednesday, was first opened in 1857 by Emperor Napoleon III, to appease his Empress’s fascination with Marie-Antionette and her theatre at Versailles. The theatre was hung with tapestries and a large chandelier, but it fell into disrepair – with the chandelier crashing to the ground in 1920. It was used by the Nazis to entertain officers during the occupation of France, but even they thought it too dangerous, and abandoned it in 1941.
It was only used about a dozen times before Napoleon III was deposed in 1870 and the theatre closed, France TV Info reports. “The trump card is that it has survived in this state after 150 years,” the palace’s president Jean-Francois Hebert told La Republique at the reopening ceremony.
Restoration work began seven years ago, and some further work is still needed before the theatre returns to full use. “It will accommodate plays and concerts, but under very restricted conditions, in small groups,” Hebert said, noting that capacity has been halved for the time being.
The theatre is one of many buildings named after Abu Dhabi’s ruler. The world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is named in his honour, as is a building at the University of Wales.
Guy Macher says
In Mohammedanism theatre is haram. This Joker bin what’s his name al whatever must be punished for apostasy!
hellen says
In the interest of islam it is permitted. Anything is permitted.
Earthly yours ! says
I don’t see what this has to do with Islam !
Angemon says
“One wonders if Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be this generous in restoring, say, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris”
Cathedral of Notre Dame? Oh, you mean the Takbir masjid!
Myxlplik says
I wonder if this will be the place where Muslims publicly stone convicted homosexuals to death in the future Islamic France of 2035.
ben says
and force infidels to by tickets $500 a piece for the “play” to learn and support jihad. They deserve it. Why did they let them in at the first place.
Wellington says
Beware of Muslims bearing gifts.
Max Publius says
Language is culture, and this is cultural destruction.
The United States is restoring old mosques around the world as part of preserving historic buildings. Should there be a George W. Bush Holy Building? The British restored the Taj Mahal, among many buildings in India; should the Brits have redubbed it the Prince of Wales Pub?
I appreciate this building is restored, but not by this Saudi bigot Islamic supremacist, who is fine with banning churches, temples and non-Muslim citizens in Saudi Arabia, and executing people for leaving Islam.
Max Publius says
My mistake, this clown is from the UAE. That means he only supports Jim Crow Islam instead of full Nazi Islam like the Saudis.
Alice says
Supremacism, pure and simple.
Salah says
“The theatre is one of many buildings named after Abu Dhabi’s ruler.”
Bit by bit, one building at a time, Europe is being sold!
Charli Main says
Islam´s prime directive is to impose Islam and Islamic values on every country they invade, either by stealth or militarily.
The current stealth invasion of Europe, USA, Canada and elsewhere is Islam´s greatest military success in 1400 years.
I pray that more Muslims like you see the darkness of Islam and step out into the light of freedom.
john spielman says
Dear Charli Main: Salah is on our side
Charli Main says
I know John, I was praising Salah for leaving Islam and joining ” us”.
Sorry, if my post was unclear´
best regards
Salah says
Sorry to disappoint you Charli Main, I’m not an ex-muslim, it’s an honour I do not deserve. I’m a catholic (also an honour I do not deserve.)
You’re right, ex-muslims are very courageous people, they deserve our highest esteem.
Having said that, I sincerely believe that, given the right education and the proper protection, most muslims would be more than happy to leave this satanic cult.
fiwi says
Salah,
Just curious, Are you based in Europe or U.S ?
eib says
Salah is under the hand of Jesus Christ, far greater than the sword of the warlord Mohammed.
joeb says
I look forward to the dome of St.Paul’s Cathedral in London being painted green in due course…
lebel says
we’re told that Muslims hate art and want to destroy it based on Koranic injunction. I think they guy who forks over millions can get a little credit without it being an act of “stealth jihad”.
Angemon says
Now, what we have here is a textbook example of a strawman argument. It’s not that “we’re told that mohammedans hate art”, it’s that islamic orthodoxy forbids realistic images of humans and animals.
Bukhari 3:428
Narrated Said bin Abu Al-Hasan
While I was with Ibn ‘Abbas a man came and said, “O father of ‘Abbas! My sustenance is from my manual profession and I make these pictures.” Ibn ‘Abbas said, “I will tell you only what I heard from Allah’s Apostle . I heard him saying, ‘Whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it.’ “Hearing this, that man heaved a sigh and his face turned pale. Ibn ‘Abbas said to him, “What a pity! If you insist on making pictures I advise you to make pictures of trees and any other inanimate objects.”
Bukhari 4:47
Narrated ‘Aisha
I stuffed for the Prophet a pillow decorated with pictures (of animals) which looked like a Namruqa (i.e. a small cushion). He came and stood among the people with excitement apparent on his face. I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! What is wrong?” He said, “What is this pillow?” I said, “I have prepared this pillow for you, so that you may recline on it.” He said,
“Don’t you know that angels do not enter a house wherein there are pictures; and whoever makes a picture will be punished on the Day of Resurrection and will be asked to give life to (what he has created)?”
Bukhari 4:448
Narrated Abu Talha
I heard Allah’s Apostle saying; “Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal).”
Bukhari 5:338
Narrated Ibn Abbas
Abu Talha, a companion of Allah’s Apostle and one of those who fought at Badr together with Allah’s Apostle told me that Allah’s Apostle said. “Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture.”
In any way, if it really was an act of selfless patronage he wouldn’t have renamed the theater, would he? I’m not as cynical as to say he choose that specific theater because of it’s Nazi connections, but the hypothesis is there.
Mirren10 says
”we’re told that Muslims hate art and want to destroy it based on Koranic injunction.”
Instead of relying on what you are told, why not do some reading for yourself, and make up your own mind ?
You also might consider using google to find out how much representational art has been destroyed by mohammedans, not only in the past, but the present.
As Angemon notes, it is the hadith injunctions that forbid representational art in islam, and the hadith are the sayings of mohammed. mohammed is the perfect man for all time, and the example for every muslim to follow.
http://www.hadithcollection.com/
As Wellington pithily says, beware mohammedans bearing gifts.
gravenimage says
lebel has always been a pretty equivocal poster here—not exactly a full-on apologist for evil, but one who consistently soft-pedals the threat of Jihad and Shari’ah.
duh_swami says
Once it’s restored, the French gov should seize it as a protected national historic monument and restrict its use to guided tours only.
muslimah says
Why do you restore buildings then. Has any of you travelled to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, eaten a kabab or drank coffee??? Do you use the ‘western’ numerical system. Coffee was first discovered by Muslims in Yemen who and was used to stay up for night prayer… Western numericals is Arabic..the first man to fly was a Muslim… Medical instruments were designed by Muslims. Look it up… Muslims are not bad people! Such a generalisation… There is good and bad everywhere in every colour on this planet. It is the westerns who have the power, not the Arabs. Muslims don’t want to convert anyone… Ur relationship with God or not with God is personal and yours only. U talk about Islamic punishment, how’s the electric chair, guns being legalised in some countries. We all have good and bad in and aroudb us… No one is perfect… There are extremists in every walk of life. Maybe that theatre should have restored its original name and if you write a strong proposal as to why and post it on change.org maybe you can make a difference. Just because we are western doesn’t mean our way is best and don’t forget the whites invaded many countries, killed off many indigenous ppl world wide, invaded and took over australia, America and committed mutiny on India. Don’t be so quick to abuse and attack something foreign to you.
Buraq says
(@ Muslimah)
It’s not about Muslims, it’s about Islam! It’s Islam, its doctrine and teachings that demands that everything it touches should become Islamic. Churches become Mosques, countries invaded by Islam remain Islamic forever, people who convert to Islam assume Arabic names. It’s a belief system that transforms everything it touches to something it, and only it, recognizes. Anything that does not adhere to, conform to or surrender to Islam is not allowed.
THAT’S the point, you benighted bint. You’re a clown, a red-nosed, wire-wigged, baggy-trousered clown!
Angemon says
I recently stated that throughout history mohammedans robbed other cultures out of their history and achievements. Notice what Muslima says:
“Coffee was first discovered by Muslims in Yemen who and was used to stay up for night prayer… Western numericals is Arabic..the first man to fly was a Muslim… Medical instruments were designed by Muslims”
It’s not certain who first brewed coffee. Some legends attribute it to to a mohammedan, other atribute it to the ancestors of the Omoro people. As for the “arabic numerals”, they were developed in India and later adopted by mohammedan mathematicians.
As for the first man to fly, Muslimah doesn’t explain what she means by “flying”. Does a caveman flapping his arms and jumping off a cliff trying to chase a flock of birds counts as flying? Are we limiting to man-powered machines, thus excluding any device that allows gliding? The tale of Icarus gos back to 1400 BC, so the idea of having a man flying can be traced back to 2000 before islam. Of course, there’s no evidence that the tale of Icarus was based on a real attempt. Archytas is reported to have invented self-propelled flying device around 400BC. Muslimah doesn’t go on details on who the first man flying was, she just says it was a mohammedan (she probably doesn’t even know herself, she seems to bu parroting propaganda, poor thing). It’s up to us to believe it or not
As for the invention of medical instruments, what a laugh! Many medical instruments can trace their origins to much earlier than the invention of islam. For example, Pompei’s “House of the surgeon” derives its name from the nature of the items found there. Romans used instruments like the speculum, bone levers and forceps, cupping vessels for bloodletting, male catheters, obstetrical hooks, enemas, scalpels… You see where i’m getting at. In any case, even if mohammedans used or developed such instruments that doesn’t say anything about their religion. It tells us that some mahommedans managed to keep their critical spirit and freedom of thought even under the islamic yoke, but that’s it. I’ve seen many mahommedans proudly presenting Avicenna or Averroes as the pinnacle of islam thinking without bothering to say that during their lifetime were persecuted by islamic authorities.
eib says
Your religion is profane.
Your prophet is false.
There is nothing holy in your worship.
There is nothing that is not corrupt in the countries where Islam dominates.
I have a savior.
You have a prophet.
I would not be you.
gravenimage says
muslimah wrote:
Why do you restore buildings then. Has any of you travelled to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, eaten a kabab or drank coffee??? Do you use the ‘western’ numerical system. Coffee was first discovered by Muslims in Yemen who and was used to stay up for night prayer… Western numericals is Arabic..the first man to fly was a Muslim…
………………………………….
Yes—that would be Wil bur al-Wright…sarc/off. Actually, the story of Abbas Ibn Firnas is clearly apocryphal, and has no historic or scientific basis.
Really, this whole passage reads like Taqiyya 101.
More:
Medical instruments were designed by Muslims…. Look it up…
………………………………….
Even if all this rot about the ‘Golden Age of islam’ were true—which it is not, but rather made up of myths, exaggerations, and the achievements of conquered peoples—none of this would Jihad and Shari’ah any less of a threat, either historically or today.
More:
Muslims are not bad people! Such a generalisation… There is good and bad everywhere in every colour on this planet…
………………………………….
This has *nothing* to do with color—and everything to do with ideology. The problem is that Islam doesn’t consider oppressing, enslaving, and slaughtering Infidels to be a bad thing at all—rather, it considers such to be a very good thing.
Muslims who are *not* waging violent Jihad against us are considered bad Muslims, and those Jihadists who are are considered respected “Mujahideen” who will be rewarded with Islamic paradise.
And how many places have fallen to Islam? How many places that used to be Hindu, or Buddhist, or Christian are now entirely Islamic, with all the original inhabitants fled, forcibly converted, or just butchered? How many who do survive are treated like oppressed, threatened dhimmis?
We’ve already gotten a taste of what pious Muslims have in store for France, with the car burnings, Tournantes, and murderous violent Jihad from those like Mohammed Merah.
More:
It is the westerns who have the power, not the Arabs.
………………………………….
This has nothing to do with “Arabs”—it has to do with Islam. And Islam is a conquering creed, and clearly has its eyes on Europe. They know that they could feed off the carcass of Europe for centuries before they would turn it into just another Islamic sh*thole.
More:
Muslims don’t want to convert anyone…
………………………………….
What utter crap. Doesn’t muslimah know that the savvy Infidels at Jihad Watch are familiar with the texts, tenets, history, and current events of Islam? All of these put the lie to this laughable Taqiyya.
More:
U (sic) talk about Islamic punishment, how’s the electric chair, guns being legalised in some countries. We all have good and bad in and aroudb (sic) us… No one is perfect… There are extremists in every walk of life
………………………………….
Witless Tu Quoque. No Western nation is the kind of basketcase you find in the Muslim world—especially the most Islamic.
muslimah would have us believe that civilized France is no different from Somalia, Yemen, or Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Notice that she is comparing the freedoms of the Second Amendment with Shari’ah states amputating the limbs of petty thieves, flogging those who listen to music, and stoning rape victims to death.
Moreover, pious Muslims don’t consider this sort of thing “bad”—they believe such barbarism to be “Allah’s” perfect law, and want to impose it everywhere, on Muslims and Infidels alike.
More:
Maybe that theatre should have restored its original name and if you write a strong proposal as to why and post it on change.org maybe you can make a difference. Just because we are western doesn’t mean our way is best…
………………………………….
What does muslimah mean “we”? In what possible way can she be considered “Western”? Certainly not philosophically or culturally—instead, this is just another Mohammedan who has made Hijira into the wealthy and accomplished but credulous West.
More:
Don’t be so quick to abuse and attack something foreign to you.
………………………………….
See—if only we were more open minded, we would embrace the wonders of Islamic punishment—perhaps we can start with floggings for art lovers and French girls in fashionable dresses right out on the Champs-Élysées. What cultural enrichment that would be! sarc/off
Champ says
Yeah and muslims brought us the most evil false prophet known to man and look at where it’s taken humanity: to hell! Thanks a bunch.
Champ says
ps …my above comment is for mooselimb.
RonaldB says
I think what will happen is that the theatre will gradually, or not so gradually, veer towards sharia-compliant art. Art exhibitions will consist of calligraphy and landscapes. Music will consist of unaccompanied chants, or possibly percussion instruments. They might become avant-guard, and feature music by such Muslims as Cat Stevens, who now composes music glorifying allah.
All of this brings up the question of whether it is the job of a national government to protect the integrity of a culture. On the one hand, we have the farce of the French Academy, declaring the use of French adaptations of common, modern English expressions as being forbidden. On the other hand, we see the farce of bin Talal, a high prince in Saudi Arabia, sponsoring the bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown. Saudi Arabia persecutes any Christians who so much as holds a prayer service in a private home.
Countries should consider the idea of living within their means. It might be better to allow the theatre to be torn down, rather than turn it over to foreign interests who will use it for the dissolution of the indigenous culture.
Like a person on welfare, the presence of unearned money makes the person (country) focus on gratifying donors, rather than on budgeting their resources and using what they have wisely.
joeblough says
You don’t rename something you restore.
This isn’t a restoration, it’s a takeover.
Champ says
islam and company are always hard at work in presenting a much softer-side to islam, but beneath that false facade exists the true nature of islam: EVIL, so beware!
Never. Trust. A. Muslim > Period!