Unspecified/General

Dedicated to the arts of Muslim civilisations, the Aga Khan Museum opened in Toronto in September 2014 as the first museum in North America devoted to Islamic art and the artistic heritage of the Muslim world, presenting a collection that spans more than a thousand years and a vast geographical sweep from the Iberian Peninsula to China. Founded under the patronage of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, the museum was conceived to foster understanding and dialogue between cultures by revealing the intellectual, scientific and artistic contributions of Muslim societies to world civilisation. Its permanent collection of well over a thousand objects includes illustrated manuscripts and miniature paintings, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, scientific instruments and architectural fragments, among them rare astronomical and medical texts that testify to the learning of the medieval Islamic world, alongside works of great beauty drawn from Persian, Arab, Turkish, Indian and Central Asian traditions. The building itself is a work of art, designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki in luminous white granite around a central courtyard whose patterned glass screens filter the changing northern light, set within formal gardens laid out with reflecting pools, and sharing its grounds with the adjacent Ismaili Centre. Beyond its galleries, the museum is an active cultural centre, with an auditorium hosting music, dance and theatre from across the Muslim world and beyond, temporary exhibitions, and a restaurant, making it a place of both contemplation and lively cultural exchange in the city. The museum sits within a wider complex that forms a notable addition to the cultural landscape of Toronto, sharing its grounds with the Ismaili Centre and with formal gardens laid out as a contemporary interpretation of the classical Islamic garden, their channels of water and reflecting pools linking the two buildings. The white granite walls and the great patterned glass screens were designed to make the most of natural light, which shifts through the day across the courtyard and galleries. The permanent collection is displayed thematically and chronologically, allowing visitors to trace the exchange of ideas, techniques and motifs along the trade routes that linked the Muslim world with Europe, Africa and Asia, and its scientific instruments and manuscripts underline the contributions of Muslim scholars to astronomy, medicine and mathematics. Temporary exhibitions explore particular themes in depth, while the performing arts programme brings musicians, dancers and storytellers from many traditions to the auditorium, pursuing the founding aim of building understanding between cultures.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 77 Wynford Drive, Toronto, Canada

Telephone: 416 646 4677

Website: https://agakhanmuseum.org

Opening Date: 18/09/2014