By MARIA PETRINGA,
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 4, 2012, IN THE LIFE & STYLE SECTION OF ARABNEWS.COM

The city of Houston, Texas, is widely known for its achievements in energy, space and medical technology. During the past few decades, thanks to its excellent museums, restaurants and thriving international communities, this fourth-largest US city has also made a name for itself as a cultural capital.

The discovery of oil in east Texas in 1901 brought the prosperous petroleum industry to Houston. By 1950, American oil production and technology were foremost in the world. Arabian Gulf States including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait relied on US firms like Texaco for exploration and development of their highly profitable oil fields.

These business links have deepened and expanded over the years. Saudi Aramco, whose US headquarters is located in Houston, sends at least 50 employees a year to earn prestigious degrees in petroleum engineering and related subjects at Texas A&M University. The University of Houston offers Arabic studies, and the University of Texas at Austin has a dynamic Middle Eastern Studies Program with more than 50 scholars offering nearly 300 courses. Partnerships exist between Texas A&M and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and between many American and Arab institutions.

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), founded in 1900, is among the top 10 most comprehensive art museums in the USA. It features 63,000 works of art from six continents, ranging from ancient to contemporary, and offers many exciting programs and presentations. Over a million visitors enjoy the museum’s collections and activities every year.

In 2007, the MFAH launched its Arts of the Islamic World initiative, with the goals of mounting exhibits and educational programs, and building a permanent collection of Islamic art, found in cultures from Iberia and Africa to the Far East. Recent acquisitions given by generous individual donors include a 1797 illustrated copy of “Tasrish-i Mansuri” (Anatomy With Illustrations), originally compiled in 1396 by Mansur Ibn Faqir Ilyas, the first medical treatise in the Islamic world to depict the anatomy of the entire human body; and a 19th-century Turkish lute made of wood, ebony, ivory and mother-of-pearl intarsia. A splendid exhibit, “Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam,” originally organized by the Brooklyn Museum, visited the Houston museum in 2010.

The MFAH is currently hosting “Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts.” This groundbreaking international exhibit assembles priceless objects from 40 institutions worldwide. It was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) with support from the MFAH. The nearly 250 objects in the show date from the eighth to the 20th centuries.

“Gifts of the Sultan” is the first exhibit to view Islamic art through the lens of gift-giving, and to explore the ways gift exchange fostered the development of art styles and techniques. All of the works on display were either fabricated as gifts or were offered as gifts in the course of their history. Some pieces were modified significantly after reception, as they moved from continent to continent, revealing interesting aspects of the various cultures in which they have “lived.”

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“Shah Jahan receives the Persian Ambassador Muhammad Ali Beg.” Folio from the Windsor Padshahnama, India, 1633. The Royal Collection, Windsor. (Photo courtesy of Her Majesty Queen