“L'Institut du Monde Arabe” is a place of culture created and designed to bring to the general public more knowledge and a greater understanding of the Arab world, its language, its civilization and its development efforts. The Institute actively promotes cultural exchanges, communication and cooperation between France and the Arab world, especially in science and technology. The building has a museum, a library and media centre, a cinema, a bookshop and a restaurant. Activities include: exhibitions, festivals, conferences, and debates.

Located in the heart of the building, the museum unfolds around a patio. The museum's collection is the result of a policy of acquisitions increased by donations and bequests. Through a judicious deployment of its collections, the museum aims to give visitors a glimpse of the Muslim civilization and art, showing its sources, its formation and its development. The Muslim civilization, which extended from the borders of Central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, continued the ancient tradition of mixing and exchange between peoples. The museum tries to approach the diversity and intermingling, through objects belonging to the Arab world as it is defined today but also opening up to Turkey, Iran, India, or Central Asia.

The collections can also consider the various dimensions of this civilization alongside prestigious works commissioned by princes and people of high rank, are presented more usual objects that relate to everyday life, without forgetting the world Science. The founding Member States of the Institute, such as Syria and Tunisia, have granted significant works from their heritages that are intended to stay within the Institute. In 2005, the General Organization for Antiquities and Museums of the Yemeni manuscripts loaned to the Institute a collection of fifty pieces. This cultural partnership is expected to grow with the participation of other countries.

The library of the Institute of the Arab world presents its collections through multidisciplinary culture and civilization of the Arab world. If it turns deliberately to the contemporary Arab world, the library also wants to bring the sources of its traditional culture and seeks to satisfy all the needs of both specialists and those of a wider audience.