According to tradition, gifts are to be offered on an anniversary.
Therefore, to celebrate the twenty years we have lived with our authors, our advertisers, our readers and most especially, the faithful Friends of the Museum, a special issue has been devised:
• First, you will discover a rich array of twenty articles (of course!) relating to the theme of offerings, including sacrifices. Written by specialists on antiquity, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, as well as by a professor of the New Testament, they shed light on these religious rites, practised in most civilizations, usually to find favour with the gods;
• We pay tribute to our advertisers, to whom we provide a showcase and who offer us their support. We have devoted a section to them in which all their advertisements since the creation of the review are reproduced in a thumbnail gallery;
• This issue ends with a magnificent portfolio by the Franco-Swiss photographer Olivier Föllmi, who is particularly well known for his photos of the Himalayas;
• Finally, you will find an envelope containing five postcards of works from the Musée Barbier-Mueller reproduced in this issue. We are happy to offer them to you, knowing that you will make good use of them!
Our ambition, dear readers, is to be able to continue to share with you the always stimulating and enriching experience of publishing each new issue of Arts & Cultures. To spark your curiosity, to lead you to discover the most beautiful works of art while placing them in their context, to take you to unfamiliar places amidst sometimes little-known cultures, such is our wish, and to do so without ever deviating from our demand for quality and our eclecticism.
I hope you will find as much pleasure in turning the pages of this issue as we had in designing it, because when you are in love, you’re still just twenty years old!
Laurence Mattet (Editorial)
