The King of Saudi Arabia bought the ‘Salvator Mundi´

Peter Kopa, Prague, 9.12.17

The Christie’s house of auctions in New York has sold the most expensive painting in the history of Art, painted centuries ago by Leonardo da Vinci. The buyer is Mohamed bin Salman, as announced by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, last Thursday, December 7. It will soon be on display at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi.

It is impressive that precisely the highest political exponent of the Arab world is investing in a work of art that bears witness to Jesus Christ as the savior of the Arab world, that is, to a faith that he is supposed to fight. He is the same person of royal investiture who set about pursuing corruption within his own country, confiscating those responsible for almost a billion US dollars, in an unprecedented police coup. 

This event could be another sign of the impact that the lifestyle and thinking of the West, and especially Christianity, is having on the Arab world through the Internet. Already almost half of all men under 35 in Saudi Arabia fail to comply with the Koranic requirement to go to the mosque on Fridays.  

It is time for Christianity and Islam to come closer and closer, in a spirit of mutual esteem, respect and understanding, because the dignity of people is the same on both sides and everyone recognizes God as Father, albeit in a different way.