Culture should not be a privilege
Matahafi (متحفي, "my museum" in Arabic) is a collective of Arabic-speaking, fully licensed tour guides from different backgrounds — Jewish, Christian (Coptic and Maronite), and Sunni Muslim — and still growing.
We came together around a shared belief: that culture should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford it, or for those who already feel at home inside a museum.
About Souhël
Why guide in Arabic in Paris?
Many reasons have led me to dedicate myself to cultural mediation and guiding in Arabic in Paris.
The first is to offer privileged access to culture and heritage for families whose children speak only Arabic, so they can discover museums, art history, and the great masterpieces of humanity through their mother tongue—free from linguistic barriers.
The second is to foster genuine intercultural dialogue between Paris and the Arab world. A dialogue rooted in knowledge, and in a nuanced understanding of art history and its cross-cultural influences. Authentic cultural exchange can only emerge through the ability to understand the other in their historical and aesthetic depth—a challenge that is particularly vital in today’s world.
Finally, I am deeply convinced that our heritage and the history of our civilizations remind us that we have always been capable of building bridges between cultures. Our predecessors knew how to debate, share, and innovate, contributing to centuries of intellectual and artistic exchange.
To be a guide is to embrace the role of a cultural bridge-builder, and to carry forward a vision of meaningful and enriching dialogue. This is the mission I strive to embody and share with you here in Paris.
We offer guided tours at reduced rates for school groups — both French and international — inside three major Paris institutions:
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The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, home to masterpieces of Egyptian, Greek, Islamic, and European art.
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The MahJ (Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme / Museum of Jewish Art and History), in the Marais, which traces the cultural and artistic heritage of Jewish communities from antiquity to today.
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The IMA (Institut du monde arabe / Arab World Institute), dedicated to the art, history, and contemporary creation of the twenty-two countries of the Arab world.
Why we do this:
For economic reasons. School budgets for cultural outings are tight, and private guided tours are often out of reach — especially for schools in neighbourhoods where families already face the highest barriers to museum visits. By pooling our work as a collective and keeping prices low, we make it possible for classes that would otherwise stay outside the museum's doors to walk in with a guide who speaks their language and knows the collections in depth.
For social reasons. Paris's great museums tell stories that belong to all of us — Egyptian, Greek, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, secular. Too often, children grow up feeling that some of these stories are "theirs" and others are not. By bringing together guides from Jewish, Coptic, Maronite, and Sunni Muslim backgrounds, Matahafi shows young visitors that these heritages have always been intertwined, and that a museum is a place where every child has a right to feel at home.
To push back against antisemitism and racism. We also work with international student groups, and we see our tours as a quiet, evidence-based response to antisemitic tropes and racist theories. Inside the galleries, we show concrete counter-examples: the long stretches of history when Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side, traded, studied, and created together — in Andalusia, in Cairo, in Baghdad, in Ottoman cities, in North Africa, and in Europe itself. These worlds were never truly separate. They were in constant dialogue — through manuscripts, ornament, architecture, music, scientific instruments, and sacred imagery — far more than we usually imagine. Art is one of the clearest places to see this, and one of the most powerful ways to teach it to a new generation.
For over two years, I have been a free student at the École du Louvre, immersing myself in the world of art history and delving into the secrets of antiquities. This journey has allowed me to deepen my knowledge and refine my perspective on artistic and cultural heritage.
Wishing to combine passion with professionalism, I began formal training for the national guiding certification (Licence de guide-conférencier), in order to validate my expertise and adopt a rigorous approach that resonates with my initial background as an engineer. Science and art share more than one might think: a quest for understanding, a precise methodology, and a commitment to sharing knowledge—values upheld by France’s leading cultural institutions.
Today, I offer unique, themed tours that shed light on rich and often overlooked topics such as Islamic Arts, Orientalism, and other artistic dialogues.
My approach is based on a renewed reading of French heritage—one shaped by the perspective of a passionate learner who has discovered, studied, and grown to love it through its stories and universal legacy.
My ambition is simple: to open the doors of Paris and its history, to offer accessible and nuanced insights, and to invite everyone to experience this city through a fresh and meaningful lens.
A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life.
― Thomas Jefferson
constant dialogue
Souhel Idris (1925–2008) in his novel "The Latin Quarter" portrayed Paris as a place of freedom and self-discovery.
In this city, I stand before art and find myself engaging in dialogue with history, humanity, and beauty. Paris taught me that art history is not just a science, but an insight that makes me more open and more deeply aware of the value of dialogue between cultures.
This is the Paris I know, and I invite you to discover it with me, to discuss it together, and to experience the city together.