exhibition

Shared Sacred Sites

Journeys between religions

09.10.2025 - 19.01.2026

Rayan YASMINEH, Ur Salim, 2022, oil on canvas © Rayan Yasmineh

Commissaires
Dionigi Albera
Raphaël Bories
Manoël Pénicaud

Exhibition conceived and co-produced by the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, the Mucem (Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean – Marseille), and the French Embassy to the Holy See – Pious Establishments of France in Rome and Loreto, based on an original exhibition by the Mucem.

For its fall exhibition, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici presents a journey along the routes of the sacred from Gentile da Fabriano and Le Corbusier to Chagall, with special loans from the Vatican Museums, the Museo ebraico di Roma, the Louvre and the Mucem.

SHARED SACRED SITES

Journeys between religions

How can a place be both sacred and shared? In common understanding, a sanctuary is usually associated with a single faith. Yet it is not uncommon for worshippers to cross doctrinal boundaries and pray in the holy place of another religion, in veneration of a shared sacred figure.

To mark the 2025 Jubilee in Rome, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici presents the exhibition Shared Sacred Sites from October 9, 2025 to January 19, 2026. The show brings together major works from French, Italian, and Vatican collections placed in dialogue with contemporary creations. From Gentile da Fabriano to Marc Chagall, via Le Corbusier, it seeks to shed light—through works of art—on a sometimes little-known yet very present religious phenomenon in the Mediterranean: sanctuaries shared by worshippers of different religions.

Each to their own God, scriptures, saints. However, since their origins, ritual practices, founding narratives, tutelary figures, and sacred spaces have intertwined among the three great monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The exhibition Shared Sacred Sites explores unique cases where different religious practices and communities intersect and coexist. Often overlooked in the West, this phenomenon reveals the historical, cultural, spiritual, and artistic interactions that have shaped these religions as well as the societies of the Mediterranean basin.

Ten years after it was first presented at Mucem in Marseille (29 April – 31 August 2015) and an international tour, the exhibition Shared Sacred Sites comes to Villa Medici in a new form, with special loans from the Vatican Museums, the Louvre, Mucem – the Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean, the MAXXI and the Museo ebraico di Roma. The exhibition invites visitors on a journey through various landscapes—cities, seas, gardens, caves, and mountains—conducive to the sharing of the sacred. It highlights intertwined histories and shared heritages, mapping out a spiritual geography where traditions, dialogue, and artistic creation converge.

The exhibition Shared Sacred Sites was designed and co-produced by the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, the Mucem and the French Embassy to the Holy See – Pious Establishments of France in Rome and Loreto, based on an original exhibition by Mucem. The exhibition has benefited from the expert advice of the Vatican Museums and the Museo ebraico di Roma.

The exhibition benefits of the sustain of BNL BNP Paribas.

Osama Msleh, "The Seven Sleepers, Damascus, Syria, 2000s. Icon, paint and gold leaf on wood",
34 x 25 x 1.6 cm. Private collection

Dana Awartani, "He Who Created The Heavens and the Earth in Six Days"
© 2013, Dana Awartani
Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum Collection
ZNM.2013.00019.00006

Hamed Abdalla, Ahl El-Kahf Series, Qur’an, Surah 18, "The Cave", verse 15, S15, 1975, Acrylic on paper, hardboard, 48 x 27 cm. Private collection © Abdalla Family Collection

Programming

In connection with the exhibition, a series of lectures organized by the Institut français Centre Saint-Louis will take place at various locations in Rome. More information to come on villamedici.it

October 2025
“Religious Sharing in the Mediterranean: Historical Perspectives”

Thursday, October 9, at 6 p.m – Two-voice dialogue
Library of Trinità dei Monti
Moderator: Oscar Iarussi
With : Cheikh Khaled Bentounes, Delphine Horvilleur.

Friday, October 10 – Study Day
École française de Rome
Moderators: Dionigi Albera, Albane Cogné,
Manoël Pénicaud
With : Maureen Attali, Karen Barkey, Giovanna Fiume, Sara Kuehn, Elsa Laurenzi, Giuseppe Mandalà, Camille Rouxpetel, Carmelo Russo, Cinzia Vismara

November 2025
“Religious Pluralism and Migrations in Italy”

Wednesday, November 12 – Study Day
Organized by Nicolas Sarzeaud and Clovis Maillet, 2024–2025 fellows of the French Academy in Rome
French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici
Speakers : Patrick Boucheron

Thursday, November 13 at 6 p.m – Round Table
Institut Français – Centre Saint-Louis
Moderators: Elena Dini
Speakers : Mario Giro, Alessandro Saggioro.
Full list to be announced.

Friday, November 14 – Study Day
Sapienza University of Rome
Moderators: Dionigi Albera, Alessandro Saggioro,
Carmelo Russo
With : Ignazio Buttitta, Giovanni Cordova, Bernadette Fraioli, Maria Chiara Giorda, Maria Molinari, Silvia Omenetto, Daniele Parbuono, Laure Prien, Marta Scialdone, Chiara Tommasini, Fabio Vicini

December 2025
“Concrete Experiences of Interfaith Dialogue in the Mediterranean World”

Thursday, December 11 at 6 p.m – Round Table
French Embassy to the Holy See,
Villa Bonaparte
Speakers to be announced.

Friday, December 12 – Study Day
Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI)
Moderators: Dominique Avon, Manoël Pénicaud
With : Carol Cooke, Mariaangela Laviano Adnane Mokrani, Claudio Monge, Abdallah Ouzitane, Mohammed Sghir Janjar.

January 2026
“Art, Architecture, Urban Planning: The Conversion of Places of Worship – Historical Approach and Contemporary Valorization”

Thursday, January 8 – Round Table
French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici
Speakers to be announced.

Friday, January 9 – Study Day
Moderator: Raphaël Bories
Speakers to be announced.

The exhibition in 7 chapters

Chapter 1: Holy cities

Benji Boyadgian (1983, Jerusalem)
Collection Stefano Borgia
(1731, Velletri, IT – 1804, Lyon, FR)
David Brognon (1978, Messancy, BE) & Stéphanie Rollin (1980, Luxembourg, LU)
Ludovico Carracci (Bologna, IT, 1555 – 1619)
Louis De Clerq (1837, Paris, FR – 1901, Oignies, FR)
Bernard Dumas
Christophe Gaultier (1969, Châteauroux, FR)
Jimmy Glasberg (1940, Nimes, FR – 2023, Tulette, FR)
Eva Fisher (1920, Daruvar, HR – 2015, Rome, IT)
Vincent Lemire (1973, Paris, FR)
Antonio Lorenzoni
Nira Pereg (1969, Tel-Aviv, ISR)

Chapter 2: The sea

Gentile di Niccolò dit Gentile da Fabriano (1370, Fabriano, IT – 1427, Rome, IT)
Rachid Koraïchi (1947, Aïn Beïda, DZ)
Francesco Tuccio (1966, Lampedusa, IT)

Chapter 3: The garden

Dana Awartani (1987, SAU)
Adam Broomberg (1970, Johannesburg, ZA)
Marc Chagall (1887, Liozna, Belarus, BY- 1985, St-Paul-de-Vence, FR)
Raphaël Gonzalez
Ayşe Raziye Özalp (1977, Istanbul, TU)
Ellefi Nasser (1956, Tripoli, LY)
Rayan Yasmineh (1996, Paris, FR)

Chapter 4: The mountain

Hamed Abdalla (1917, Cairo, EG – 1985, Paris, FR)
Gianni Berengo Gardin (1930, Santa Margherita Ligure, IT – 2025, Genoa, IT)
Marc Chagall (1887, Liozna, Belarus, BY- 1985, St-Paul-de-Vence, FR)
Adrien Dauzats (1804, Bordeaux, FR- 1868, Paris, FR)
Elliott Erwitt (1928, Paris, FR – 2023, New-York, US)
Stella Perugia
Ivo Saglietti (1948, Toulon, FR- 2023, Gênes, IT, 2023)
David Sauveur (1974, Dinard, FR)

Chapter 5: The cave

Hamed Abdalla (1917, Cairo, EG – 1985, Paris, FR)
Abdallah Akar (1952, TN)
Ayşe Raziye Özalp (1977, Istanbul, TU)
Giovanni di Paolo (1403 – 1482, Siena, IT)
Pietro di Giovanni dit Lorenzo Monaco (c. 1370, Siena, IT – c. 1423, Florence, IT)
Osama Msleh (1970, Damascus, SY)

Chapter 6: Itinerant objects

Alix Boillot (1992, Paris, FR)
Matilde Cassani(1980, Domodossola, IT)
Musa Ibn Istifan (^17th century)
Abdul Wahab Mohmand (1982, Kabul, AF)

Chapter 7: Architectures

Adjaye Associates
Félix Bonfils (1831, Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort, FR – 1885, Alès, FR)
Le Corbusier (1887, La Chaux-de-Fonds, CH – 1965, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, FR)
Camille Enlart (1862, Boulogne-sur-Mer, FR – 1927, Paris, FR)
Louis Haghe (1806, Tournai, BE – 1885, London, GB)
Armin Linke (1966, Milan, IT)
André Martin (1928, Saint-Laurent-en-Caux, FR – 1999, Douentza, ML)
Israël Silvestre (1621, Nancy, FR – 1961, Paris, FR)

Practical information

Date: October 8, 2025 to January 19, 2025
Opening hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, except Tuesdays (closed)

The curators

Dionigi Albera is an anthropologist and director of research at the CNRS, specializing in Europe and the Mediterranean. He has published some twenty books on migrations, the family, pilgrimages, and forms of inter-religious mixing. His theoretical work has contributed to renewing comparative approaches to monotheistic religions.

Raphaël Bories, former resident at Villa Medici, has been curator at the Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (MuCEM) since 2020 and is responsible for the “Beliefs and Religions” section. At MuCEM, he works particularly on the history of Italian ethnology, the links between the Middle Ages and popular art, and the relationship of artistic creation and photography to anthropology.

Manoël Pénicaud is an anthropologist at the CNRS and a member of the Centre Jacques Berque in Rabat. His work lies within the field of the anthropology of religiosity, pilgrimages, and interreligious relations in the Euro-Mediterranean area. He is also a photographer, documentary filmmaker, and exhibition curator, notably of Shared Sacred Sites since 2015.