(Kelly Crow, Speakeasy, The Wall Street Journal) Four years after New York’s Metropolitan Museum renovated its lauded Greek and Roman galleries, curators two flights up are scurrying to reopen the museum’s Islamic art galleries by Nov. 1.

The eight-year project amounts to a sweeping overhaul: Around 19,000 square feet is being given over to 15 galleries that chronologically trace the cultural high points of dozens of Islam-influenced cultures stretching from the Moors in Spain to the Mughals in India. Altogether, the 1,200 works on view will span 13 centuries. It’s no wonder that the new name being given to the galleries—Art of the Arab lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia—is such a mouthful.