Pakistan’s art gallery finally opens

Pakistan’s painstakingly built National Art Gallery opened to the public Tuesday with an expansive exhibit of 600 works -- from Persian-style miniature paintings with a modern twist to large-scale sculpture created specially for the site.

Pakistan has long had a vibrant if small art scene, but the four-story gallery in Islamabad took more than a quarter-century from conception to completion, mainly because of the changing priorities of a series of military leaders and short-lived elected governments.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to have a home for all the work -- a place to house the work of three generations of artists,” said Naiza Khan, a curator of the inaugural show and a Karachi-based artist whose female metal body armor is also on display.