@museumwnf/islamicart-data 1.0.43 → 1.0.45

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-{"01ed0e00-4aed-5afc-bdea-937514669d4b":{"name":"Victoria and Albert Museum","description":"The Victoria and Albert (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. When the museum opened to the public in 1852, its mission was to reform design by making works of art available to all, improving the public’s understanding of the subject and providing inspiration for designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A’s collections span over 5,000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world.  \n  \nThe V&A comprises a family of sites, including the V&A in South Kensington, Young V&A located in Bethnal Green, V&A Dundee in Scotland, the V&A Wedgwood Collection housed in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, V&A Gallery at Design Society in Shekou, China, and opening in 2024/25 will be V&A East located within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford. Across these sites the museum showcases their collections to a wide range of audiences and aims to champion design and creativity in all its forms.  \n  \nThe V&A has specialised in collecting art and design from the Islamic world since the 1850s, and it was the first institution in the world to collect Islamic art in a systematic fashion. The museum's founders believed that Islamic ideas about structuring patterns and matching decoration to shape and function could improve British design. The collection grew to become the most significant in its field. Outstanding works include the AH 10th / AD 16th-century Ardabil carpet from Iran, a rock crystal ewer from AH 5th / AD 11th-century Egypt, and the world’s greatest collections of Islamic ceramics. The museum also houses the national collection of Islamic textiles.","city":"London","address":"Cromwell Road  \nSouth Kensington  \nSW7 2RL  \nLondon  \nUnited Kingdom","website":"http://www.vam.ac.uk","phone":"+44 207 9422000"},"08da2b05-a4ee-59f0-8585-a9431321460e":{"name":"Larache Archaeological Museum","description":"Kindly note that the Larache Archaeological Museum has been closed and all its artefacts have been moved to:  \n  \nCasbah Museum (Tangier)  \nAl-Kasbah, Tangier  \nConservator: Abdelaziz El Idrissi  \nT: +212 539 932 097  \nM: +212 (0) 675 271 922  \n  \nThe following is an older article referring to the when the Larache Archaeological Museum was operational.  \n  \nLocated on Dar el-Makhzen Square near the old city wall, Borj al-Yahoudi was renovated in 1978 as a museum of the city of Larache. The museum exhibits only archaeological objects excavated from the Lixus site, about four kilometres from the Loukkos River harbour.  \n  \nThe first section displays the pieces chronologically; a second room, on the ground floor, is arranged in order of category: religious life, mythology, architecture, jewellery and ceramics.  \n  \nThe chronology is as follows:  \n  \n**The Phoenician Period**  \nAlthough archaeological data from the period is scarce, the museum’s collection (a sphinx, ostrich eggs, jewellery – including the famous gold earring of the goddess Tanit) is evidence of the existence of commercial trade at the port of Lixus.  \n  \n**The Punic Period**  \nAmphorae, imported ceramics and common pottery show the engagement of Lixus in the major Mediterranean trading routes.  \n  \n**The Mauritanian Period**  \nThe collections of amphorae, perfume containers, imported ceramics and copies of bronze works date to this era of intense commercial activity and urban expansion.  \n  \n**The Roman Period**  \nRoman-era archaeological objects occupy a vast area and reveal the flourishing of Lixus under Roman colonisation, from the reign of Claude (AD 1st century) until the Romans abandoned the city (AD 5th century). Included are ceramic utensils imported from Italy, Spain and southern Gaul, amphorae, statuettes, mosaic fragments, bronze furniture, architectural elements – including a Pompeian-style mural.  \n  \n**The Islamic Period**  \nAlthough medieval objects are rare, the Islamic occupation of the site has been confirmed by the discovery of architectural elements, by everyday Almohad and Almoravid ceramics, and especially by *cuerda seca* (dry cord) ceramics, including a celebrated drinking vase. Similar examples have been found in Murcia and Siyasa, Shaltish and Huelva in Andalusia.","city":"Larache","address":"Délégation du Ministère de la Culture  \nLarache, Morocco","phone":"+212 539 912 092"},"113e7cf6-f7c2-53aa-9442-5229ced56c72":{"name":"Museum Rietberg","description":"The Museum Rietberg is one of the largest art museums in Switzerland and is administered by the City of Zurich. With a focus on traditional and contemporary arts and cultures of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania, it has some 23,000 objects and 37,000 ethnographic photographs in its collection. Most of the objects are on public display, either in the museum’s galleries or in its open storeroom.  \n  \nIn 1945, the City of Zurich bought the 67,000 square metres of the Rieterpark and the Villa Wesendonck. Then in 1949, the people of Zurich approved the plan to convert the Villa Wesendonck into a museum and to establish, at the same time, the Museum Rietberg. In 1952, the new museum finally opened its doors to the public. The complex consists of three nineteenth-century villas and a coach house, not to mention a recent underground extension opened in 2007.  \n  \nThe work of the Museum Rietberg is characterised by a high degree of professionalism, social inclusion, and diversity. The Museum aims to heighten awareness of the artistic achievements of individuals alongside those brought about by religious and social diversity. In so doing, it fulfils an important cultural mission in our increasingly globalised world.  \n  \nFurthermore, the Museum’s first-rate collection of international renown requires expert care, continuous academic study, including provenance research, while being actively expanded and managed. The institution ensures the transparency of the results of its research by making them largely available online.  \n  \nThe Museum Rietberg possesses both local and international connections with cultural institutions, collectors, and specialists in a variety of fields. It pursues a policy of long-term cooperation with countries of origin including Cameroon, India, Pakistan, and Peru.","city":"Zurich","address":"Gablerstrasse 15  \n8002 Zurich","website":"http://www.rietberg.ch","phone":"+41 44 415 31 31","email":"museum.rietberg@zuerich.ch"},"1232b5a2-7af1-5de4-a332-ff444943f8b0":{"name":"MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art","description":"The MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art – is one of the foremost museums of its kind in the world. The building located on Stubenring in the 1st district of Vienna was founded in 1863 as the k.k. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry) and today houses a unique collection of applied arts, design, architecture and contemporary art.  \n  \nThe MAK collection encompasses European and international decorative arts ranging from the Early Middle Ages to the present. The museum's main holdings include textiles, ceramics, glass, furniture and metalwork as well as exquisite objects of the Wiener Werkstätte (craftworks) and Art Nouveau. Its collection of Oriental carpets and East Asian art are of the highest international significance.  \n  \nAmong the objects from the Islamic world, the collection of Oriental carpets is pre-eminent, and the museum holds the largest collection worldwide of paintings of the *Hamzanama* from the era of the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. Important examples of the applied arts are preserved in the MAK Asia Collection, which most notably include objects from Iran and the Ottoman Empire.","city":"Vienna","address":"Stubenring, 5  \nA-1010 Vienna  \nAustria","website":"http://www.mak.at","phone":"+43 1 711 36-248","email":"office@MAK.at"},"19c6017a-4b0e-5530-b7ac-c09f8a4bf54d":{"name":"Calouste Gulbenkian Museum","description":"Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was born in Scutari in 1869 into a family of Armenian origin. A pioneer of the oil industry and an exceptionally discerning and knowledgeable collector, he came to Portugal in 1942 as the Second World War raged in Europe. Gulbenkian spent the remaining years of his life in Lisbon and died here in 1955.  \n  \nIn 1956 the Foundation which takes his name was created, fulfilling his wish that the works of art that he had assembled over four decades as a collector should be kept together under one roof.  \n  \nThis desire was fulfilled in 1969 with the inauguration of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. The museum’s collection numbers some 6000 pieces. The breadth of the collection reflects Gulbenkian’s own preferences and the personal tastes which always guided him. It covers various periods of the history of art, from classical and oriental Antiquity to European art of the early twentieth century.  \n  \nThe Calouste Gulbenkian Museum is set in the Parque Santa Gertrudes and is a landmark in museum architecture in Portugal. With numerous openings to the exterior, it offers visitors a continuous dialogue between Nature and Art.  \n  \nThe permanent exhibition galleries are on the first floor of the building and distributed around two patios. Each gallery is linked with its successor according to a chronological and geographical system of classification which results in two independent itineraries within the general circuit of the museum.  \n  \nGulbenkian was especially interested in oriental art (perhaps because of his own origins) and the collection’s numerous ceramics, carpets, tapestries, illuminations, book bindings and mosque lamps from the East are an illustration of this interest. These exhibits trace the various artistic tendencies of Persia, Turkey, Syria, the Caucasus, Armenia and India from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, and are on display in the Islamic Orient gallery.","city":"Lisbon","address":"Av. Berna, 45 A  \n1067-001 Lisbon, Portugal","website":"https://gulbenkian.pt/","phone":"+351 217 823 000","email":"museu@gulbenkian.pt"},"1d0ff55d-dcd7-59a9-b95d-18903aa4ab05":{"name":"Benaki Museum","description":"The Benaki Museum is the largest and oldest museum in Greece operating as a foundation under private law. It was founded 1930 by Antonis Benakis, a member of a leading Greek family of Alexandria. The current museum is decentralised: its hub is the neoclassical mansion presenting the evolution of Greek culture from the Paleolithic period to the present day. The autonomous buildings include the exhibition centre on Pireos 138, the Toy Museum on the Athens seafront, the Ghika Gallery and the Museum of Islamic Art.  \n  \nThe Museum of Islamic Art is a renovated neoclassical building in Athens’ historic centre near the ancient Agora. It opened in 2004 to house the collection formed by Antonis Benakis during the early part of the 20th century, while he was living in Egypt. Subsequently enriched by other donations, today it contains c. 10,000 objects from the Middle East, Iran, Turkey, North Africa and India. It demonstrates the evolution of Islamic art up to the 19th century and corresponding developments to the middle of the 20th century. The collection includes ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, textiles, woodwork, glassware, ivories, funerary steles and arms and armour.  \n  \nThe visitor first finds exhibits from the 7th to the 12th century. Highlights are lustreware, door panels from Iraq, Fatimid metalwork, tiraz textiles and a unique reed mat from 10th-century Tiberias. Then follow objects from the 12th to the 16th century with Seljuq ceramics, Mamluk metalwork and pottery and highlights a brass box with the signature of Isma’il ibn al-Ward al-Mawsili dated 1220 and the astrolabe of Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj dated 1328/29.  \n  \nAnother gallery displays a marble-lined reception room from a 17th-century mansion in Cairo, together with its fountain, qamariyya windows and a mashrabiyya screen. Other noteworthy exhibits are the collection of Iznik pottery and a 16th-century velvet saddle from Bursa. The display concludes with arms and armour and an important collection of Qajar jewellery that was collected by Argine Salvagos, sister of the founder.  \n  \nDuring preservation work, a large section of the ancient city wall of Athens from the 4th century BC was uncovered and remains in situ at basement level, accessible to visitors.","city":"Athens","address":"22 Agion Asomaton & 12 Dipilou Street  \n10674 Athens","website":"http://www.benaki.gr/","phone":"+30 210 325 1311","email":"islamic_collection@benaki.gr"},"1dc4a129-85b0-57d5-9622-15c790c4333f":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"Zisa Museum  \nAddress: Piazza Zisa, 1  \n90100 - Palermo  \nTel: +39 091 65 20 269  \n  \nCappella Palatina  \nAddress: P.zza del Risorgimento  \n90100 Palermo  \nTel: +39 091 6961111","city":"Palermo"},"2300bb0e-fc9f-55c5-ae2e-20f619a46cce":{"name":"Weltmuseum Wien","description":"The Weltmuseum Wien – formerly the Museum of Ethnology – houses comprehensive collections of ethnographic objects, historical photographs, and books on non-European civilisations, making it one of the world’s leading ethnographic museums. Its roots can be traced back to 1806, when the \"Imperial and Royal Ethnographic Collection\" was established as part of the combined Imperial and Royal Court Cabinet of Natural Objects, following the partial acquisition of the \"Cook Collection\" at a London auction. The continuously growing collections were transferred to the newly created “Department of Anthropology and Ethnography” of the Royal Court Museum of Natural History in 1876. Limited space and a goal of developing ethnology as a cultural science convinced political decision-makers to establish a unified, cohesive Museum of Ethnology. The “Museum of Ethnology” opened formally in 1928 taking up the entire building of the “Corps de Logis” in Neue Burg.  \n  \nIn 2001 the Museum of Ethnology was incorporated into the KHM-Museum Association. In April 2013 the Museum of Ethnology became the \"Weltmuseum Wien\" – a site of world cultures – at Vienna’s Heldenplatz. In October 2017, after extensive reparation and modernisation of the historical building, the Museum reopened in its entirety with 14 completely revised permanent exhibition galleries. The Museum’s collection, meanwhile, has expanded to well over 200,000 inventory numbers.","city":"Vienna","address":"Heldenplatz  \n1010 Vienna","website":"http://www.weltmuseumwien.at","phone":"+43 1 534 30-5052","email":"info@weltmuseumwien.at"},"236add0a-18d4-55b1-88dd-71cad26804b1":{"name":"Archaeological Area and Museum of Mertola","description":"Located on the banks of the river Guadiana, the village of Mértola was of exceptional economic importance throughout the history of Iberia, right up until the period of its Christian Reconquest (1238 CE). This was due in large part to the vitality of its port which from the pre-Roman period onward traded in extracted metals from the nearby regions of Aljustrel and the mines of S. Domingos. The growing awareness of the city’s cultural richness owes largely to the heritage work done by the ‘Campo Arqueologico de Mértola’ (est. 1978) and the establishment of the Museum of Mértola on the back of finds from several excavations (est. 1982).  \n  \nThe Mértola Museum, with a geographical focus on the town and its municipality, has branched out to include archaeological sites representing several periods of history within its remit. These include a Roman house which was opened to the public in 1998, an early Christian basilica opened in 1993, as well as the church and necropolis of S. Sebastião which was inaugurated in 1999. Several other sites bring together important collections of archaeological materials, especially in the Castle Tower opened to the public in 1991 and the centre for Islamic Art which was opened in 2001. There is also an important collection of religious art with pieces dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries CE as well as ethnographic materials representative of traditional craftsmanship. These include a blacksmith’s forge and a weaving workshop where, at present, three weavers are in charge of preserving the centuries old tradition of Mértolan weaving.  \n  \nThe Mértola Museum contributes significantly to the study and knowledge of the Islamic period in Portugal. While its initial focus concentrated on archaeology, in time the museum opened up to other avenues in promoting the heritage and knowledge of Islamic Mértola. This effort is visible in the Islamic Museum which showcases in a time when the region was the capital of a Taifa kingdom throughout the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.  \n  \nThese consist of objects from the excavations of the Almohad neighbourhood as well as a reconstruction of one of the excavated houses uncovered. Other elements make it possible to establish a synthesis of the missing Mértola. The model of the central mosque reminds us of the original Aljama or central mosque and funerary steles refer indicate the Islamic cemetery or maqbara which is now the subject of renewed excavation.  \n  \nThe ceramics collected during the excavations also evoke daily life in Islamic Mértola with particular reference of those crafted in the ‘cuerda seca’ technique. All in all, the Mértola Museum not only preserves the heritage of the region but also provides important insight and a basis for research into the relationship between the town and several Western Mediterranean ports during the medieval period.  \n  \nThe Mértola Museum has been part of the Portuguese Museum Network since 2002.","city":"Mértola","address":"Morada – Praça Luís de Camões  \n7750-909 Mértola, Portugal","website":"http://www.camertola.pt/","phone":"+351 286 610 100","email":"museus@cm-mertola.pt"},"2850ad3d-5837-53f2-9df3-168b86ffb478":{"name":"Museum of Civilisations | Museum of Oriental Art (EIAC)","description":"The ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ Museum of Oriental Art opened to the public in 1958 and houses finds from several Italian archaeological missions conducted in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. As well as this are numerous objects purchased on the antique market, particularly those by Giuseppe Tucci during his voyages in Nepal and Tibet between 1928 and 1954.  \n  \nThe museum’s Islamic wing includes a rich collection of objects sourced from both archaeological excavations and private purchases. The provenance of the collection is wide-ranging including the items from the geographical territories that now make up the countries of Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and India. Chronologically the material covers an extensive period from the 8th to 19th centuries CE. The collection is arranged along different classes of production including; ceramics, metal works, miniatures, manuscripts, numismatics, jewellery, textile art, glass, arms & armour and wood.  \n  \nOf particular importance is the collection of archaeological finds from the palace of the Ghaznavid Sultan, Mas’ud III (1099-1115 CE) in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The archaeology of the site and its associated finds was brought to light by excavations conducted by the Archaeological Mission of the IsMEO (Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente) in the 1960’s. These consist mainly of elements of architectural decorations in brick and marble, marble funerary stones, ceramics and metals.  \n  \nThe museum's collection of Persian objects can be dated from the 8th to the 19th centuries. Ceramics from the Samanid (9th- 10th century) and Seljuk (11th -12th century) periods are well represented in the Museum collections. Ilkhanid period ceramics (13th -14th century), known for their use of ‘lajvardina’ glaze technique is also visible in the collections. The majority of metal objects within the Islamic collection stem from the Khorasan region of Eastern Iran and Western Afghanistan, a well-known historic centre for metallurgical production.  \n  \n\\*\\*\\*  \n  \nSince September 2016, the National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome has merged into the new Museum of Civilisation, definitively closing in October 2017 for the transfer to its new headquarters in the Palazzo delle Scienze. While awaiting the definitive re-arrangement planned for the end of 2021, a temporary exhibition called “Open for Works” exhibits over 650 objects from the Oriental Museum (of which about 60 is considered Islamic Art) in the rooms of the Pigorini Museum.","city":"Rome","address":"Museo delle Civiltà | Museo d’arte orientale “Giuseppe Tucci”  \nPiazza Guglielmo Marconi, 14  \n00144 Rome, Italy","website":"https://www.museodellecivilta.it/","phone":"+39 06 549521","email":"mu-civ@cultura.gov.it"},"2970af60-fdee-5b70-8e87-7b8865a0c88d":{"name":"Museum of Civilisations | Museum of Oriental Art","description":"The ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ Museum of Oriental Art opened to the public in 1958 and houses finds from several Italian archaeological missions conducted in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. As well as this are numerous objects purchased on the antique market, particularly those by Giuseppe Tucci during his voyages in Nepal and Tibet between 1928 and 1954.  \n  \nThe museum’s Islamic wing includes a rich collection of objects sourced from both archaeological excavations and private purchases. The provenance of the collection is wide-ranging including the items from the geographical territories that now make up the countries of Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and India. Chronologically the material covers an extensive period from the 8th to 19th centuries CE. The collection is arranged along different classes of production including; ceramics, metal works, miniatures, manuscripts, numismatics, jewellery, textile art, glass, arms & armour and wood.  \n  \nOf particular importance is the collection of archaeological finds from the palace of the Ghaznavid Sultan, Mas’ud III (1099-1115 CE) in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The archaeology of the site and its associated finds was brought to light by excavations conducted by the Archaeological Mission of the IsMEO (Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente) in the 1960’s. These consist mainly of elements of architectural decorations in brick and marble, marble funerary stones, ceramics and metals.  \n  \nThe museum's collection of Persian objects can be dated from the 8th to the 19th centuries. Ceramics from the Samanid (9th- 10th century) and Seljuk (11th -12th century) periods are well represented in the Museum collections. Ilkhanid period ceramics (13th -14th century), known for their use of ‘lajvardina’ glaze technique is also visible in the collections. The majority of metal objects within the Islamic collection stem from the Khorasan region of Eastern Iran and Western Afghanistan, a well-known historic centre for metallurgical production.  \n  \n\\*\\*\\*  \n  \nSince September 2016, the National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome has merged into the new Museum of Civilisation, definitively closing in October 2017 for the transfer to its new headquarters in the Palazzo delle Scienze. While awaiting the definitive re-arrangement planned for the end of 2021, a temporary exhibition called “Open for Works” exhibits over 650 objects from the Oriental Museum (of which about 60 is considered Islamic Art) in the rooms of the Pigorini Museum.","city":"Rome","address":"Museo delle Civiltà | Museo d’arte orientale “Giuseppe Tucci”  \nPiazza Guglielmo Marconi, 14  \n00144 Rome, Italy","website":"https://www.museodellecivilta.it/","phone":"+39 06 549521","email":"mu-civ@cultura.gov.it"},"29d8d41a-b480-56bf-8b3d-e906281be54d":{"name":"Dar Si Said","description":"Dar Si Said is a large palatial residence built in the second half of the 19th century by Si Said Ben Moussa, who served as minister of war under the regency of his brother Ba Hmad.  \n  \nA living testimony to Moroccan art and domestic architecture of the 19th century, the monument presents architecture of grandeur and opulence.  \n  \nMost of the collections in this regional museum come from Marrakech and the southern regions of Morocco, particularly Tensift, Sous, High Atlas, Anti-Atlas, Bani and Tafilalet. These are related sets of woodwork, jewellery, vessels and ceramics, weapons, carpets and weavings, and some archaeological pieces, including a marble vat from the early 11th century.  \n  \nSince August 2002, the Dar Si Saïd Museum has been hosted an exceptional thematic exhibition focusing solely on wood: Wood – Art and Uses. Chosen from museums throughout the kingdom, the Dar Si Said Museum displays the best examples of wood art from the 12th century to today. In addition to their historical value (Almohad, Wattassid and Saadi pieces), the collections inform us about artisanal techniques (sculptures, engravings, carpentry, filming and painting) and decoration such as *tasstir* (geometric woodwork), and *mouqarnas* (ornamental vaults).  \n  \nThe exhibition is divided into four main areas:  \n– Liturgical furniture (first section on the ground floor) includes a *minbar*, rosaries and Qur’anic tablets.  \n– Architectural wood (second section on the ground floor) is represented by traditional pieces and elements of rural architecture: lintels, corbels, pedestals and doors.  \n– Domestic furnishings (upstairs) includes a wide range of furniture, chests, bridal goods, mirrors and cooking tools.  \n– Diverse objects (also upstairs) related to the various uses of wood in different fields. These are exhibited in the four rooms of the grand riad (traditional musical instruments and tools, antique weapons and objects for personal grooming).","city":"Marrakech","address":"Derb El Bahia, Riad  \nEl-Zaïtoun El-Jadid  \nMarrakech, Morocco","phone":"+212 524 389 564"},"2a23d23f-5624-56f3-828f-3db6b5689a95":{"name":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art","description":"The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in three iconic sites in New York City – The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.  \n  \nSince it was founded in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.  \n  \nThe Met Fifth Avenue  \n1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street)  \nNew York, NY 10028  \n+1 212 535 7710  \nSunday–Thursday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \nFriday and Saturday: 10:00am–9:00pm  \n  \nThe Met Breuer  \n945 Madison Avenue  \nNew York, NY 10021  \n+1 212 731 1675  \nClosed Monday  \nTuesday and Wednesday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \nThursday and Friday: 10:00am–9:00pm  \nSaturday and Sunday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \n  \nThe Met Cloisters  \n99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park  \nNew York, NY 10040  \n+1 212 923 3700  \nMarch–October: 10:00am–5:15pm  \nMay 27–September 2, 2016: Open late on Fridays until 7:30pm  \nNovember–February: 10:00am–4:45pm  \n  \nAll locations closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1. The Met Fifth Avenue closed the first Monday in May.","city":"New York","address":"The Met Fifth Avenue  \n1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street)  \nNew York, NY 10028  \nSunday–Thursday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \nFriday and Saturday: 10:00am–9:00pm","website":"http://www.metmuseum.org","phone":"+1 212 535 7710"},"325b7505-1527-5442-99ea-6a40f8c43d3f":{"name":"Islamic Museum at Al-Aqsa Mosque","description":"The museum was officially inaugurated in AH 1341 / AD 1922. In AH 1348 / AD 1929, it was transferred to its present site in the southwestern corner of the Haram al-Sharif. The museum is administered through the Department of Islamic Awqaf in Jerusalem, under the auspices of the Ministry of Jordanian Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places.  \n  \nThe museum comprises three buildings with an exhibition space of over 1,000 square m. The oldest hall is from the AH 6th / AD 12th century and is a rare Crusader monument in the holy city. The second hall was an Ayyubid mosque (AH 7th / AD 13th century) historically known as al-Malikiya mosque or the Jami’a al-Mughariba. The third hall is known as the *al-Fakhriya* corner and its history goes back to the Mamluk period (AH 8th / AD 14th century).  \n  \nThe collection consists of artefacts and remains from the Islamic and non-Islamic epochs, representing various facets of Islamic civilisation ranging in geography, theme and period. Most of the artefacts represent the heritage of al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem and Palestine at large including cities such as Hebron and Nablus.  \n  \nThe museum contains woodwork from different Islamic eras, the oldest dating to the Umayyad period. Metalwork in iron, copper and silver includes the iron enclosure from the Dome of the Rock, candlesticks, swords, daggers, daises, incense burners, coins, rings and memorial pieces. The collection includes marble and glazed tiles that panelled the the Dome of the Rock in the period of Sultan Sülayman the Magnificent (r. AH 926–74 / AD 1520–66) and his successors. There is a collection of earthenware, inscriptions on stone from different Islamic periods and its precursors, and columns and capitals from the Roman and Byzantine periods. There is a valuable collection of Qur’ans, the oldest from the AH 9th / AD 15 th century, and many Mamluk manuscripts whose themes deal with social and economic life in the holy city. The museum displays part of its textile collection, with costumes, grave coverings, pieces from the *kiswa* (covering) of the Ka’ba and pieces of carpet.","city":"Jerusalem","address":"Al-Haram al-Sharif  \nAmro  \nP.O. Box 75085  \nJerusalem","website":"http://www.facebook.com/islamic.museum1922/","phone":"02 6283286","email":"jerusalem.museum@gmail.com"},"33f89573-8b54-5c1a-86ba-1663e604740f":{"name":"Jordan Archaeological Museum","description":"The museum was founded in 1951 by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan on the Citadel of Amman on a hill called Jabal al-Qal’a. The building has a total measurement of 525 m2 on two floors. The ground floor is used for storage, and the first floor comprises the display area, which consists of three exhibition halls, and administrative offices.  \n  \nThe museum holds many artefacts found in various archaeological sites in Jordan representing the path of civilization in this area throughout its long history. The extensive collection is arranged chronologically by historical periods, from the Stone Ages to the Islamic periods.  \n  \nThe Islamic art collection is displayed in an exhibition hall in eleven showcases that consist of: pottery vessels from the Umayyad period to the Mamluk period; glazed vessels from the Mamluk period to the Ottoman period; steatite vessels from the Umayyad period; coins of all types and periods; metalwork and pottery vessels from the Umayyad to Mamluk periods; iron shields and swords from the Mamluk period; carved stones from the Umayyad period; four plaster replicas of architectural elements from Khirbat al-Mafjar Palace in Jericho (windows, lintel and a dome from the bath).  \n  \nLack of space prohibits the display of temporary exhibitions; however, the museum participates in many local and international exhibitions held in Jordan and abroad to show the history and archaeology of Jordan throughout the ages.  \n  \nThree curators sharing the responsibility of looking after the whole collection of the museum.","city":"Amman","address":"Citadel of Amman  \nP.O. Box 88  \nAmman, Jordan","phone":"+962 6 463 8795"},"36670bdc-150b-5f89-8906-79b8e4e2518d":{"name":"The David Collection","description":"The David Collection was founded by C. L. David (1878-1960), a prominent Danish attorney, who had begun to collect fine and decorative art in the 1910s. In this last field, he was aided by directors of the Danish Museum of Art and Design, who gradually also guided him to another area that had previously attracted little interest in Denmark: Islamic art. The Islamic part of David’s collection was, however, still rather modest at the time of his death in 1960.  \n  \nA bachelor and childless, C. L. David left his Copenhagen townhouse and works of art to a private foundation, along with financial means that made it possible to expand his collections. From the 1970s, a decision was consequently made to place increasing emphasis on expanding the Islamic holdings. The Islamic Collection has grown to become not only the museum’s most important, with over 4,000 objects, but also Scandinavia’s most significant in its field.  \n  \nThe Islamic Collection has been built up in keeping with the classical pattern for Western collections of this kind. It embodies works of art from Spain in the west to India in the east, but not works from Sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia. Chronologically, the collection ranges from works dating to shortly after the advent of Islam to the middle of the 19th century. The collection encompasses all types of materials, but since the small rooms of 19th-century buildings like C. L. David’s townhouse, now the museum’s home, make it impossible to exhibit large objects, the museum consequently has only a modest collection of carpets, and they are either of small size or fragments of larger carpets.  \n  \nFollowing the museum’s refurbishment and reinstallation of its collections in 2009, the David Collection is now divided into three parts: European 18th-Century Art, Danish Early Modern Art, and Islamic Art. The collection of Islamic Art is presented in a new, contemporary setting, enhanced by digital and other modern techniques used to elucidate the objects on display. The backbone of the collection is 20 chronological/geographical sections, but the display also contains special galleries for light-sensitive materials as well as others dedicated to themes such as cultural history and artistic techniques.","city":"Copenhagen","address":"Kronprinsessegade, 30  \nCopenhagen  \nDenmark  \n  \nPostal address: Kronprinsessegade 30-32","website":"http://www.davidmus.dk/en","phone":"+45 33734949","email":"museum@davidmus.dk"},"36dd7a00-ac4e-5317-9673-604bbb89af53":{"name":"Museum of Oriental Art (Fondazione Torino Musei)","description":"Turin’s new Museum of Oriental Art marks the culmination of various strands of interest in this field: the city boasts a long tradition of Oriental studies at the university – backed by the presence of a major centre for specialised research (CESMEO), while the past few years have seen a growing realisation of the need to create specific instruments to further our knowledge and understanding of distant cultural worlds. A museum that displays artistic creations from different cultures not only fulfils its own vocation as a repository for their conservation and exhibition, but above all prompts visitors to expand their own ethnocentric horizons.  \n  \nThese were some of the underlying grounds that led to the idea of creating a Museum of Oriental Art (MAO), in Turin based on the redefinition, renewal and expansion of the Oriental Section of the Civic Museum of Ancient Art.  \n  \nThe new museum, stands in one of the city’s most lively and fascinating areas, is housed in Palazzo Mazzonis, which was built between the 17th and the 18th century, known, which was formerly owned by the Marquis Solaro della Chiusa before being passed in 1870 to Chevalier Paolo Mazzonis, a textile magnate. After becoming the head office of the Manifattura Mazzonis, extensive improvements were carried out, especially on the first floor. The Mazzonis business failed in 1968 and the building remained unused. It was purchased by Turin City Council in 1980 and restored to house a section of the law court from 1982 to 2001 and finally, after appropriate restoration became site of a museum.  \n  \nThe Museum now contains some 1500 works from all over Asia. The rooms used for the permanent exhibition are divided into five separate “galleries”, which have fitted naturally into the structural layout of the building.  \n  \nThe MAO aspires to be as representative as possible in its choice of artworks from the various countries: its collections include the major cultural traditions from the continent, building on the important collections already owned by various institutions in Turin, whose directly inspired the proposed layout for the new museum which is divided into five clearly defined cultural areas: South Asia, China, Japan, Himalayan Countries and Islamic Countries.  \n  \nThe order in which the works are presented and the accompanying exhibit labels aim to highlight the points of contact and creative interactions between the different countries at the various historical periods, reintroducing a unified interpretation to the proposed route.  \n  \nThe MAO also acts as a cultural intermediary for visitors, who are generally unfamiliar with the concepts and cultural traditions to which exhibits refer. It aims to inspire visitors to explore new forms of thought, encouraging a fuller awareness of the value of all human knowledge.  \n  \nLastly, the MAO offers a wide range of public services: multimedia stations, online catalogue on the museum’s website, bookshop, possibility of using the art library and photographic archives of Fondazione Torino Musei, seminars, conferences, temporary exhibitions, and the educational rooms.","city":"Turin","address":"Via San Domenico11  \n10122 Turin","website":"http://www.maotorino.it","phone":"+39 01 14 43 69 27","email":"mao@fondazionetorinomusei.it"},"3acfd33c-e4e0-5b37-a94a-380f38913853":{"name":"National Museum of Aleppo","description":"The earliest collection of art and archaeological artefacts for the National Museum of Aleppo dates back to 1928 and the museum was formally inaugurated in1931. Initially it was devoted to the pre-Greco-Roman era, with works no later than 333 BC, most of which were based on finds from Tell Halaf. It was decided to move the collection from its original location in an Ottoman period building, which had become overcrowded, into a modern purpose-built museum, begun in 1967 and formally opened in 1972. It includes the following wings:  \n  \nPre-historic art: dedicated to finds such as bones and pottery from the regions of Syria and the Euphrates Valley. Some items are about a million years old and the most recent piece dates to no later than 3,200 BC, after which writing was developed and art became historic.  \n  \nAncient Near Eastern art from Syria: one of the most important sections containing pieces from Tell Halaf, Mari, Ugarit, Ebla and other significant sites of early Near Eastern civilisations, all displayed in chronological order in three large wings.  \n  \nClassical art from the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods: pottery, coins, a number of limestone funerary carvings from the ancient city of Mambij, and a collection of Roman and Byzantine glass flasks used for perfume, eye-kohl and drugs are some of this section's main features, all displayed chronologically.  \n  \nArab Islamic art: The method of display here is based on the item's function and medium, such as pottery, ceramics, metalwork and glass of the various Islamic dynasties as well as a collection of gold and silver coins of the Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. A stone cenotaph carved in floriated kufic calligraphy is a masterpiece of this hall. Medieval military equipment and an Ottoman wooden ceiling featured in a side chamber are also presented.  \n  \nModern art: paintings by Syrian artists, particularly Aleppines, expressed in various styles such as realism, cubism, expressionism.","city":"Aleppo","address":"Al-Ma'arri Street  \nAleppo, Syria","phone":"+963 21 2122400"},"3b3a5b19-fbaa-51e8-9923-ce90d4287338":{"name":"National Museum of Bardo","description":"Founded on 7 May 1888, and considered one of the most important archaeological museums in the Maghreb, the Bardo National Museum is famous for its Roman mosaic panels. The museum resulted from the renovation of the palace of a *bey* (provincial governor) of the 19th century. It consists of a ground floor and two upper floors in which museum objects have been grouped in a chronological order that retraces the history of Tunisia.  \n  \nThe collection includes areas dedicated to:  \n  \n– Prehistory: the development of stone tools, ornaments, engraved stones, and especially to the rock and animal bone sanctuary known as “Hermaion of El-Guettar” that dates back to BC 40,000.  \n  \n– The Punic era, including ceramics, neo-Punic steles and jewellery, and pieces exhumed from several ancient sites in Tunisia.  \n  \n– The Roman era. In addition to ceramics and jewellery, this section is known for its significant collection of mosaics.  \n  \n– The Byzantine era. It contains sarcophagi, mosaics and terracottas whose designs display characteristics of African Christianity, and the large mosaic-covered Kelibia Baptistery.  \n  \n– Mediterranean treasures recovered from a shipwreck found off the coast of Mahdia that also contained bronze artefacts and Athenian marbles.  \n  \n– The Muslim period. One section, devoted to the Middle Ages, includes objects from the Sabra and Raqqada excavations: Fatimid glass, ivory and bronze figurines, ceramics with figurative designs, funeral steles, kufic inscriptions, parchment sheets from the Qur’an and Egyptian textiles. In the second section, popular arts and traditions are represented by weapons, musical instruments, copper objects, jewellery and ceremonial clothing from different regions of Tunisia.  \n  \nObjects are grouped by type and material within each section. The mosaics are presented in wall panels or form part of the palace floor. Smaller objects are displayed in glass cases. Statues are exhibited on their stands or in wall niches. These collections, which comprise the museum’s permanent exhibition, are made accessible to the general public through educational and cultural activities that take place in the museum.  \n  \n*On 18 March 2015, the museum was the site of an attack by an Islamist terrorist group that killed 22 people, most of them tourists.*","city":"Tunis","address":"Musée national du Bardo  \n2000 Le Bardo, Tunisia","website":"http://www.bardomuseum.tn/","phone":"+216 71 513650 – 71 513842"},"3b73a306-1129-5c8d-acba-8e34a39e132f":{"name":"The British Museum","description":"The British Museum was established by Act of Parliament in 1753, the first national public museum in the world. From the beginning it granted free admission to all “studious and curious persons”. The founding collection was that of Sir Hans Sloane, a wealthy physician and collector. The original British Museum comprised three departments: Printed Books; Manuscripts (including coins); and Natural and Artificial Productions, which included everything from sculpture to mineral samples and zoological specimens. In January 1759 the British Museum opened its doors to the public.  \n  \nAs a product of the Enlightenment, the museum's job was to be a storehouse of knowledge for the use and benefit of the public, advancing all fields of scholarship. The museum therefore aimed to collect all kinds of material; it remains one of the few places in the world in which it is possible to see the world under one roof. During the 19th century the museum acquired representative collections of Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, as well as material from across the Islamic world.  \n  \nThe museum itself had to grow to offer space to display the growing collections. Between 1823 and 1847 the original building was replaced by four large wings built around a central courtyard. In 1854 construction began on the iconic Round Reading Room in the central courtyard. The natural history collections were given their own home in the new Museum of Natural History in 1881. By 1973 the British Library and British Museum were administratively separated, and in 1999 the new British Library building opened at St Pancras. The British Museum site was expanded and modernised. In 2000 the Great Court opened, envisioned as a sunny piazza at the centre of the building, with up-to-date facilities such as lecture theatres, an education centre and facilities for school children, as well as restaurants and shops. In 2014 the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre opened to the public, offering state-of-the-art facilities to care for, manage, research and display the collections.","city":"London","address":"Great Russell St., London WC1B 3DG  \nUnited Kingdom","website":"http://www.britishmuseum.org","phone":"+44 20 7323 8000 / 8299","email":"information@britishmuseum.org"},"3eb798ec-9543-5a63-ba38-c22270fbbe84":{"name":"University Museum of Islamic Art | The Bumiller Collection","description":"An exceptional collection of early Islamic bronzes is housed in a historical town-house in the heart of the old city of Bamberg. The objects mostly originate from the Persianate world what is today Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The collection is completed by a significant number of ceramics, glass and ivory objects as well as numismatics and manuscripts. The many-sided compilation includes nearly all objects of daily life. Writing equipment, cosmetic utensils, jugs, bowls, trays, fumigating vessels, oil lamps, jewellery, mirrors and the like give a fascinating insight into the life along the Silk Road in the Middle Ages. The exhibition shows the development of forms as well as the high standard of metallurgy mastered by medieval craftsmen in the region. The most ambitious décor and production techniques such as repoussé, punching, engraving and damascening that Islamic art put forth during the centuries are represented among the objects of the collection.  \n  \nIt is the Bumiller Art Foundation's concern to present most diverse products of Islamic metallurgy and to make them available for research and learning. The museum continuously serves as a venue for researchers, students and all those interested in Islamic art.","city":"Bamberg","address":"Austraße 29  \n96047 Bamberg  \nGermany","website":"http://www.the-bumiller-collection.com","phone":"+49 951 25954","email":"info@the-bumiller-collection.com"},"40411e66-c284-545a-b2ef-8e0e8a2c7f6e":{"name":"MKG Museum for Applied Arts","description":"The Museum for Applied Arts (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg) is a museum of applied arts highlighting design, photography, fashion and graphic arts and crafts. The MKG was inaugurated in 1877 under its founding director Justus Brinckmann (1843-1915).  \n  \nThe Museums houses about 500,000 objects of art and design, covering a geographical scope from Europe, the Mediterranean Regions, to West and Asia. Over 4000 years of history of design and culture are presented, from Antiquity to the Present Age.  \n  \nThe Islamic Art wing is the oldest of its kind in Germany and has been part of the museum since its foundation. Justus Brinckmann acquired objects labelled Islamic Art in the context of the World Fairs in Vienna (1873) and Paris (1889). The initial focus of the collection were tiles and ceramics, which were acquired as decorative art.  \n  \nThe collection is significant for its outstanding individual objects. For example the *Divan Muhibbi* an illuminated volume of poetry (1554) by Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent or parts of the tile paneling of Buyan Kuli Khan’s mausoleum in Bukhara (Uzbekistan), fragments of a 16th century. Another masterpiece of the collection is a Safavid royal carpet.","city":"Hamburg","address":"Steintorplatz,  \nHamburg  \nGermany","website":"http://www.mkg-hamburg.de/","phone":"+49 (0)40 428134-880","email":"service@mkg-hamburg.de"},"439840b5-f533-507d-b4b8-8d7e7014db20":{"name":"Jordan National Bank Numismatic Museum","description":"The Museum was established in 1999 to display the large collection of coins collected by Dr Nayef G. Goussous, a coin collector who obtained his Ph.D. in rare and indicted Umayyad copper coins.  \n  \nThe museum has accumulated over 14,000 coins and monetary symbols, many of which are rare and some unique. The collection spans more than 2,500 years; the earliest coin dates from 600 BC while the latest is in circulation today in Jordan.  \n  \nThe museum has especially strong holdings in the coins of Decapolis, provincial Arabia and the Umayyads, in addition to Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic coins, along with coin weights, gemstones and other numismatic artefacts.  \n  \nThe museum has a specialised library containing over 1,500 books.","city":"Amman","address":"P.O.B. 3103  \n11181  \nAmman, Jordan","phone":"+962 6 5687090","email":"museum@ahlibank.com.jo"},"47364e44-3c52-55de-b9a6-855ff85e7443":{"name":"Monastir Museum of Islamic Art","description":"Housed in the Ribat of Monastir, which dates to the 2nd / 8th century, the museum consists of an open-air gallery displaying grave markers, and an exhibition space which was formerly the prayer room of the fort. This space houses richly decorated objects grouped by material and type; they constitute a collection that roughly corresponds to successive phases of the Muslim era in Tunisia.  \n  \nCeramic objects, in a wide variety of shapes, colours and decorative motifs, are characteristic of the Aghlabid, Fatimid, Hafsid and Ottoman periods. Originating from the sites of Raqqada and Sabra al-Masouriya, and dating back to the 3rd / 9th and 4th / 10th centuries, stucco elements are decorated with floral, geometric and inscription motifs. The marble elements are all funerary steles in the form of tablets, a column and a sword; they come from the Monastir cemetery and date back to the 3rd–5th / 9th–11th centuries.  \n  \nWooden friezes decorated with floral motifs and inscriptions come from the Great Mosque of Kairouan, and wooden corbels from the 4th–5th / 10th–11th centuries are also exhibited. Glass objects from the Fatimid and Mamluk periods are on display. Some were found at the Sabra al-Mansouriya site. The room contains a case with gold and silver coins dating back to the above-mentioned periods, and glass calibrators from the 9th century. The metallic objects include a remarkable astrolabe dating to the 12th / 18th century.  \n  \nThe arts of calligraphy and binding are represented by a set of parchment Qur’an folios from the library of the Great Mosque of Kairouan that date back to the 9th to 12th centuries. Among these is the Qur’an of al-Hadinah, governess to the Zirid ruler Badis (410 / 1020). Leather bindings decorated with floral and geometric motifs reveal the evolution of this art over five centuries (3rd–7th / 9th–13th). Coptic and Fatimid textiles with epigraphs that include names of workshops are characteristic of royal production, and enhance the museum’s permanent collection.","city":"Monastir","address":"Ribat  \nMonastir, Tunisie","phone":"+216 73 461272"},"4ab46509-e7a3-56bf-8e30-734b61d97e56":{"name":"Umm Qays Archaeological Museum","description":"This museum, opened to the public in 1987, is located in a renovated historical building (late 19th century) constructed on the acropolis from basalt and limestone. The exhibition space consists of two vaulted halls in which artefacts uncovered in the course of excavation at the ancient site of Gadara (Umm Qays) are displayed. Mosaic panels, marble statues and carved basalt sarcophagi are exhibited in the courtyard of the museum.","city":"Irbid","address":"P.O.B. 62  \nIrbid, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 7500072"},"4f5bd5e0-0138-5ef6-8f9a-0bb1663130cb":{"name":"Ege University","city":"Izmir","address":"Ege Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü  \n35040 Bornova,  \nIzmir, Turkey","phone":"+90 232 3390593"},"53724213-926c-5852-9d55-d58f73ce9266":{"name":"Pepoli Museum","description":"The Pepoli Museum is located in the 14th century palace of the ‘300’ which was the seat of the convent of the Carmelite Fathers.  \n  \nWithin the museum, the most important section is that attributed to the private collections of Count Agostino Pepoli, to whom the museum was attributed to when it was built in the 1900s.  \n  \nTo the museum collections were later added works from the Fardelliana art gallery which constituted paintings from the Neapolitan school as well as other works from Trapani religious organisations. Other important aspects within the museum constitute the collections of applied arts from patrons such as Count Hernandez of Erice and the Hospice Sieri Pepoli.  \n  \nAlongside its collections of paintings and sculptures, the Pepoli museum showcases the development of figurative arts within the region; nativity paintings, corals, gold and silver objects, ecclesiastical furnishings, sacred hangings, majolica pottery, archaeological finds, coins and historical relics of the city of Trapani.  \n  \nIn regard to Islamic art, the museum contains a noteworthy collection of epigraphs with Kufic inscriptions upon its ground floor.","city":"Trapani","address":"Via Conte Agostino Pepoli, 180  \n91100  \nTrapani, Italy","website":"http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/museopepoli/MuseoPepoli.html","phone":"+39 0923 553269","email":"museo.pepoli@regione.sicilia.it"},"559ab197-7289-5af4-a295-1118bde9afce":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum, State Museums","description":"**The Museum of Islamic Art is closed from October 2023 to March 2027 due to renovation and expansion works.**  \n  \nThe Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum Berlin is the only institution of its kind in Germany, the oldest in the West and with its c. 93,000 pieces it houses one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic art from nearly all regions of Islamic rule.  \n  \nIts collections are especially rich in objects from an architectural context including the monumental façade of the caliphal palace of Mshatta (Jordan), dating from the mid-8th century. It is the largest artefact of Islamic Art in any museum worldwide. The unique dome from the Alhambra Palace in Granada (Spain) and 13th-century prayer niches from Kashan (Iran) and Konya (Turkey) are among the highlights. Most loved by our visitors is the finely painted wooden panelling of an upper-class house from Aleppo (Syria) from the early 17th century – it is the oldest surviving exemplar from the Ottoman World. Among the several archaeological groups from major excavations in the Islamic world the finds from the 9th-century caliphal capital of Samarra (Iraq) stand out. The collection also has a large number of important Ottoman and Persian carpets and bibliographical works of art, including numerous miniatures from the Mughal Empire.  \n  \nThe collection is displayed chronologically, allowing the visitor to follow the different stylistic phases of Islamic art and to develop a notion of the complex Islamic history and its artistic merits. Because of the large number of visitors (up to 900,000 yearly), only a small number of the most important works of art are on display. The museum will move inside Pergamon-Museum and will triple its exhibition space (3,000sq.m) by 2020. The layout and concept will discover new and innovative ways to present the cultural legacy.  \n  \nWith its rich art and archaeological collection, the Museum of Islamic Art is one of the leading research institutions dedicated to the material culture of the Middle East and neighbouring regions. Our many research, conservation and exhibition projects amount to a probing investigation of the urban legacies of the Near and Middle East. The institution houses important collections of archival photographs on Islamic art and architecture as well as an internationally outstanding library focused on art, architecture and archaeology in the world of Islam.","city":"Berlin","address":"Geschwister-Scholl-Straße, 6  \n10117 Berlin  \nGermany","website":"http://www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/museum-fuer-islamische-kunst/home.html","phone":"+49 30 266 42 5201","email":"isl@smb.spk-berlin.de"},"5a99ecbe-b976-5037-8760-a07c629142f6":{"name":"Kunsthistorisches Museum","description":"The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is one of the foremost museums in the world, with rich holdings comprising artworks from seven millennia - from Ancient Egypt to the late 18th century. The collections of Renaissance and Baroque art are of particular importance.  \n  \nThe KHM’s extensive holdings are on show at different locations: the main building on Ringstrasse houses the Picture Gallery, the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, the Coin Collection and the Kunstkammer.  \n  \nOther collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum are housed in the Neue Burg (i.e. the Collection of Historical Musical Instruments, the Collection of Arms and Armour, and the Ephesus Museum), in Hofburg Palace (the Treasury), and in Schönbrunn Palace (the Collection of Historical Carriages).  \n  \nThe collections on show at Ambras Palace are also part of the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  \n  \nSince January 2001, the Museum of Ethnology on Heldenplatz and the Austrian Theatre Museum on Lobkowitz Square have been incorporated into the KHM.","city":"Vienna","address":"Burgring, 5  \n1010 Vienna","website":"http://www.khm.at/","phone":"+43 1 525 24-0","email":"info@khm.at"},"5c8c36bb-1ee8-5468-bdc7-ec865b742d71":{"name":"National Museum of Art of Romania","description":"The National Museum of Art of Romania was founded in 1948 with works drawn from local private and public collections, as well as from the royal collection. It has been housed ever since in the former royal palace situated in the very heart of Bucharest. The Museum is home to the largest and finest art collection in the country. The current holdings, which include over 100,000 works, are divided among five curatorial departments, one of them dedicated to Oriental art.  \n  \nSince its establishment in 1954, the Oriental art collection of the Museum has been steadily expanded and consolidated around two main areas of interest: Islamic art, on the one hand, Chinese and Japanese art, on the other. It is the largest Oriental collection housed by a Romanian museum, and it consists of items from the royal collection, the Toma Stelian Museum, as well as gifts and acquisitions. The Department of Oriental Art currently holds over 5,000 objects. The holdings of three other departments of the Museum, namely the Department of Medieval Romanian Art, that of Decorative Art, as well as the Art Collections Museum (which is part of the National Museum of Art of Romania) include notable Islamic artworks, some of which have been selected for this site.  \n  \nThe permanent exhibition was closed for a much-needed ample renovation of the building, and will be redisplayed in newly refurbished areas in compliance with European standards of conservation. Meanwhile, exhibitions of Oriental art are being shown regularly. About four hundred carpets covering a wide geographical area and spanning four centuries are at the core of the collection of Islamic art. Even though less extensive, the collections of ceramics, embroideries, and metalwork boast some outstanding works, providing a meaningful insight into distinct areas of Islamic art.  \n  \nAlongside the Art Collections Museum, which holds a considerable number of Islamic artefacts donated over the years by Romanian art collectors, the National Museum of Art of Romania manages two other museums in Bucharest: K. H. Zambaccian Museum and Theodor Pallady Museum.","city":"Bucharest","address":"Calea Victoriei 49-53  \nsector 1  \n010063 Bucureşti","website":"https://www.mnar.arts.ro/en/","phone":"+40 21 313 30 30","email":"secretariat@art.museum.ro"},"5db20458-bdcf-5050-98fb-3fb2d1392a0a":{"name":"Museum for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities","description":"When it was founded in 1954, the Museum for Mediterranean and Near East Antiquities comprised collections of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Cypriote antiquities. As a department of the National History Museum, the museum was primarily of an archaeological nature aimed at showing the origins of western civilization. However, in 1982, a large part of the Swedish collections of Islamic art were added to it, in response to increasing understanding of the Mediterranean countries as a region of close relations and interactions over the centuries. With its incorporation, in 1999, in the National Museum of World Culture, an organization consisting of the four Swedish state museums with foreign collections, the focus changed to the diversity of culture within the region of the Mediterranean and in relation to the rest of the world.  \n  \nThe Islamic collection of the museum consists of ceramics, metal works, textiles and miniatures, mostly from Iran and Turkey. It also includes well-known collections such as the so-called Hannibal collection of glass fragments. Although Sweden does not border any Islamic lands, there are many cultural objects in archives, libraries and other museums testifying to its diplomatic and commercial relations with Islamic countries. Examples from these institutions were selected to characterize the development of the Islamic collections in Sweden.  \n  \nThe Islamic collection is displayed in two rooms accessible from the main hall. As an introduction, the Muslim way of life is depicted by objects from a religious context. The exhibition itself displays artefacts from different regions and periods and of various materials according to aesthetic traditions. Located near finds from other Mediterranean cultures the exhibition encourages visitors to understand relationships, traditions and influences.","city":"Stockholm","address":"Fredsgatan 2  \nBox 16008  \n10321 Stockholm, Sweden","website":"http://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/medelhavsmuseet/","phone":"+46 010 456 12 00","email":"info@medelhavsmuseet.se"},"6001ff30-e9b6-573e-a38c-5ac23b472e6c":{"name":"Saint Louis Art Museum","description":"Mission  \n  \nThe Saint Louis Art Museum collects, presents, interprets, and conserves works of art of the highest quality across time and cultures; educates, inspires discovery, and elevates the human spirit; and preserves a legacy of artistic achievement for the people of St. Louis and the world.  \n  \nHistory  \n  \nThe Saint Louis Art Museum was founded in 1879, at the close of a decade that saw the establishment of art museums in great cities across the eastern half of the United States. This Museum’s comprehensive collections bear witness to the inspirational and educational goals to which its founder aspired and the moral and democratic imperatives he embraced. What began as a collection of assorted plaster casts, electrotype reproductions, and other examples of good design in various media rapidly gave way to a great and varied collection of original works of art spanning five millennia and six continents. Today the quality and breadth of the Museum’s collection secure for it a place among the very best institutions of its kind.  \n  \n(*Saint Louis Art Museum Handbook of the Collection*)**","city":"Saint Louis","address":"1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park  \nSt. Louis, Missouri 63110","website":"http://www.slam.org","phone":"+1 314.721.0072","email":"info@slam.org"},"6021cc63-7507-5dd7-8c81-4b04847b92d2":{"name":"Ethnography Museum","description":"The Ethnography Museum is located on a hill donated by the General Directorate of Foundations to the Ministry of National Education. The architect Arif Hikmet (Koyunoğlu) is one of the most renowned architects of the early Republican period. The building has a rectangular plan with a single dome. The stone walls are faced with coarse sandstone, and the marble pediment has carved decoration.  \n  \nA special commission to collect and purchase artefacts was established in Istanbul, headed by Prof. Celal Esad (Arseven) in 1924 and then by Halil Ethem (Eldem), Director of Istanbul Museums, in 1925. 1,250 purchased artefacts were placed in the museum whose construction was completed in 1927. Hamit Zübeyr Koşay was appointed as the director. The equestrian bronze statue of Atatürk that stands in front of the Museum was made by the Italian sculptor B. Conanica at the request of the Ministry of National Education in 1927.  \n  \nOn 15 April 1928, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) visited the museum and on his request the museum was opened to public on 18 July 1930 on the occasion of the visit of Afghan King Amanullah Han. In November 1938 the inner courtyard was reserved as a temporary mausoleum for Atatürk until his body was transferred to his own mausoleum, the Anıtkabir, in 1953. This section is stil kept as a symbolic cenotaph in Atatürk’s memory. Between 1953 and 1956, renovations were carried out for the International Museums Week in 1956 when the museum was reopened to the public.  \n  \nThe Ethnography Museum houses examples of Turkish art dating from the Seljuq period to modern times.  \n  \nTo the right of the entrance are halls displaying items related to the Anatolian wedding ceremony and bridal dresses, Turkish embroidery, Turkish carpets, Anatolian coffee culture and the circumcision ceremony.  \n  \nTo the left of the entrance are halls housing tile and glass artefacts, objects donated by Besim Atalay, Ottoman calligraphy and some of the finest wooden artefacts from the Seljuq and Emirate periods.","city":"Ankara","address":"Talatpaşa Bulvarı, Ülkü Sokak, 4  \n(Eski Türk Ocağı yanı) Opera  \nAnkara, Turkey","website":"https://muze.gov.tr/muze-detay?SectionId=AET01&DistId=MRK","phone":"+90 312 311 30 07","email":"ankaraetnografyamuze@kultur.gov.tr"},"602d76d9-58fd-50f3-85c3-b98598339046":{"name":"Saint-Petersburg Museum of Islamic Culture","description":"“Seek knowledge, even as far as China.” These words are attributed to the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and can be interpreted as a directive to pursue enlightenment around the world, no matter how difficult it may be. In homage to the Islamic tradition of education, our museum’s logo displays the Prophet’s words in traditional Islamic calligraphy, in which Arabic letters in ancient kufic script are arranged to form a square.  \n  \nOur museum is dedicated to Islamic culture. For many centuries, the peoples of the Islamic world have supported cultural growth. The Islamic values of education and exploration have led to great advancements, such as the Islamic Golden Age that became a bridge between Hellenism and the Renaissance. Today, nearly 1.8 billion people from 120 countries practice Islam. As founders of this museum, we have worked with our friends and colleagues to organise yearly expeditions to explore Islamic culture “as far as China.” We have adopted a modern approach to study the diversity of the Islamic world, drawing strongly on ethnographic material. Our museum tells amazing stories!  \n  \nWe, the founders of the museum, express our sincere gratitude to the St Petersburg City Administration for their interest in our initiative and their proposal to grant us the use of 21 Kadetskaya Line. This building, erected in the 1780s, is the former house of architect Alexander Brullov and is a listed heritage property of federal importance. At various points throughout the 20th century, the building housed a confectionary, a kindergarten, a library and other institutions. More recently, it housed the Museum of Old Petersburg. At present, the building is in disrepair and in need of comprehensive refurbishment and renovation. Consequently, we are committed to accurately restoring the building and adapting it with care to the museum’s needs. We are eager to utilise modern technology, including interactive elements and augmented reality, to create vibrant exhibitions for our visitors.","city":"Saint Petersburg","address":"21, Kadetskaya Line  \n  \nPOSTAL ADDRESS  \n193079, Saint Petersburg,  \n73 а, Dalnevostochniy Prospect","website":"http://islamiculture.museum","phone":"+7-921-320-62-64","email":"islamiculture@mail.ru"},"609d991f-8031-5bb5-a9b6-a18f8a52f5aa":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"Madaba Archaeological Park  \nHisban, Jordan  \n  \nSpanish Mission  \nAmman, Jordan"},"60b02d9b-3b33-59db-9e40-8f5e785c3d52":{"name":"Al-Saraya Museum","description":"The Museum is housed in what was originally a two-storey Ottoman building dated to 1883, which was constructed to accommodate officials.  \n  \nThe building underwent several modifications after the late Ottoman period. In its present state it has seven barrel-vaults and ten rooms organised around a courtyard. In 2006 it was converted into an archaeological museum displaying artefacts discovered during excavations which took place mainly in the governorate of Irbid, north Jordan.  \n  \nThe museum holds objects from the Stone Age through to the Ottoman period in chronological order. These objects are pottery, alabaster, glass vessels and sculptures in addition to Byzantine mosaic floors.","city":"Irbid","address":"P.O.Box 62  \nIrbid, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 7245613","email":"+962 79 5382023 (mobile director)"},"6440f57d-bc25-5c0f-9b16-443be2f69b2a":{"name":"Khalili Family Trust – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection","description":"In striving to provide a synoptic vision of the arts of the entire Islamic world, and since the 1970s, Professor Nasser D. Khalili has assembled his collection of Islamic art under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust. With holdings of more than 28,000 objects documenting the range of artistic production of the Islamic lands over a period of some 1400 years, the Collection now ranks among the best in the world and represents a new generation of Islamic art collections.  \n  \nThe Collection includes an outstanding array of manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an and of illustrated manuscripts, and the coverage of the decorative arts – ceramics, textiles, glass, metalwork and lacquer as well as seals and coins – is comprehensive.  \n  \nThe holdings of manuscripts and folios of the Holy Qur’an are the first to have been assembled systematically in order to illustrate the whole history of Qur’an production, both in terms of time span and geographical range – from the 8th to the 20th centuries, and from Morocco to China. Similar sequences have been assembled for painting and the decorative arts. Glass, ceramics and metalwork, for example, are represented in the full range of techniques from the pre-Islamic period through to the 19th century.  \n  \nLater Islamic art has been given the same level of attention. The wealth of important objects and manuscripts from later periods in the Collection shows that much art worthy of our attention on aesthetic as well as historical and intellectual grounds was produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Another important art form of this period is Islamic lacquer, represented in the Collection by more than 500 examples.  \n  \nThe catalogue of the Collection is an unprecedented 27-volume series, of which several are now published, and when completed will form a unique survey of the field to date. *Studies in the Khalili Collection* is a second series of publications related to the Islamic art collection, presenting more detailed analysis of certain objects.  \n  \n**Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection**  \n  \nFor some 40 years, and under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust, Professor Nasser D. Khalili has been actively involved in assembling a notable collection of objects relating to Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam and the one that lends itself most readily to artistic expression. With over 3000 objects, the Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection is now one of the largest and most important of its kind and includes major objects, many of which are unique.  \n  \nThe objects range in date from the 8th to the 20th centuries and geographically from China and India in the east to Morocco and the United Kingdom in the west. They include some 250 woven and embroidered textiles made for the two holy sanctuaries at Mecca and Medina, seven covers for the Egyptian and Syrian *mahmal*s, Qur’ans, illustrated manuscripts, scientific instruments, coins, paintings, rare books, prints, photographs and postcards, as well as important archival material and some unique historical documents.  \n  \nGiven its size and diversity, the Collection provides a comprehensive overview of Hajj, illustrating the religious, spiritual, cultural and artistic aspects of pilgrimage to the holy cities of Islam and the cosmopolitan nature of Hajj.  \n  \nFor several years now, the material has been undergoing a thorough programme of conservation which is soon to be completed, and research in preparation for its publication in a number of volumes is well advanced. The volumes will include contributions by a number of international scholars who are leading experts in the numerous disciplines that this subject evokes.","city":"London","website":"http://www.khalilicollections.org","email":"info@nourhouse.com"},"6da08597-8da7-5d02-a911-09a5273c1265":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Museum of National Antiquities (Historiska Museet)**  \nBox 5428  \nNarvavägen 13–17  \n114 84 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 8 51955600  \n[www.historiska.se](http://www.historiska.se)  \n  \n**Museum of Ethnography (Etnografiska museet)**  \nDjurgårdsbrunnsvägen 34,  \nBox 27140,  \n102 52 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 010 4561299  \n[www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/etnografiskamuseet/](http://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/etnografiskamuseet/)  \n  \n**National Museum of Fine Arts (Nationalmuseum)**  \nBox 16176  \n103 24 Stockholm  \nAddress for visitors: Södra Blasieholmshamnen  \nTel.: +46 8 51954300  \n[www.nationalmuseum.se](http://www.nationalmuseum.se)  \n  \n**Royal Coin Cabinet (Kungl. Myntkabinettet)**  \nSlottsbacken 6,  \nBox 5428  \n114 84 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 8 51955300  \n[www.myntkabinettet.se](http://www.myntkabinettet.se)  \n  \n**Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren)**  \nSlottsbacken 3,  \n111 30 Stockholm  \nTel: +46 8 4023000  \n[www.lrk.lsh.se](http://www.lrk.lsh.se)  \n  \n**National Maritime Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet)**  \nBox 27131  \n102 52 Stockholm  \nAddress for visitors: Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen 24  \nTel.: +46 8 51954900  \n[www.sjohistoriska.se](http://www.sjohistoriska.se)  \n  \n**Army Museum (Armémuseum)**  \nBox 14095,  \n104 41 Stockholm  \nAddress for visitors: Riddargatan 13  \nTel.: +46 8 51956310  \n[www.sfhm.se](http://www.sfhm.se)  \n  \n**Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet)**  \nFyrverkarbacken 13,  \nBox 12541,  \n102 29 Stockholm  \nTel: +46 010 4767000  \n[www.riksarkivet.se](http://www.riksarkivet.se)  \n  \n**Hallwyl Museum (Hallwylska Museet)**  \nHamngatan 4,  \n111 47 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 8 4023099  \n[http://www.hallwylskamuseet.se](http://www.hallwylskamuseet.se)  \n  \n**Museum of Cultural History**  \nBox 1095  \n221 04 Lund  \nAddress for visitors:  \nTegnérsplatsen  \n223 50 Lund  \nTel.: +46 046 350400  \n[www.kulturen.com](http://www.kulturen.com)  \n  \n**Uppsala University Library**  \nBox 510,  \n751 20 Uppsala  \nAddress for visitors: Carolina Rediviva, Dag Hammarskjölds väg 1  \nTel.: +46 18 4713900  \n[www.ub.uu.se](http://www.ub.uu.se)"},"70de1706-9586-5047-bb4b-f1cf7fb14120":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Tavira Municipal Museum**  \nTavira, Faro, Portugal  \n  \n**National Museum of Ancient Art**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Moura Municipal Museum**  \nMoura, Beja, Portugal  \n  \n**Santarém Municipal Museum**  \nSantarém, Portugal  \n  \n**Lisbon Cathedral**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Carmo Museum of Archaeology**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**City Museum**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Cathedral of Braga Treasury**  \nBraga, Portugal  \n  \n**Infante D. Henrique Archaeological and Lapidary Museum**  \nFaro, Portugal  \n  \n**Évora Museum**  \nÉvora, Portugal  \n  \n**National Museum of Archaeology**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Queen Leonor Regional Museum**  \nBeja, Portugal  \n  \n**Machado de Castro National Museum**  \nCoimbra, Portugal"},"71715b75-3521-53ee-8c85-91fca0b977d0":{"name":"National Museums Scotland","description":"The collections of what is now National Museums Scotland were built over more than two centuries, with two strands of history coming together in the story of the organisation’s development. First the desire to have a museum reflecting Scottish history and second the wish to have a museum demonstrating international cultures, natural and physical sciences, and decorative art for Scotland.  \n  \nThe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland was founded in 1780, very much in the spirit of the Enlightenment, to collect the archaeology of Scotland. Its collections passed into public ownership in 1851 as the original collections of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. In 1985 the National Museum of Antiquities was amalgamated with the Royal Scottish Museum. The latter was founded in 1854 as the Industrial Museum of Scotland and reflected the impetus of Victorian ideals of education. It started international collecting and research as well as forming close links to the collections and teaching of Edinburgh University, which continue today. Renamed the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, it opened in its first bespoke buildings, designed by Francis Fowke, on Chambers Street in 1866. The 1985 amalgamation created the largest multi-disciplinary museum in Scotland, with 12 million items in its collections and the largest body of curatorial and conservation expertise in the country. Today, National Museums Scotland includes the National Museum of Scotland, the National War Museum, and the National Museums Collections Centre - a research, storage, and conservation facility in Edinburgh, as well as the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian, and the National Museum of Rural Life in Lanarkshire.  \n  \nNational Museums Scotland started acquiring material culture from West Asia and North Africa in 1854. Today, material from West Asia comprises more than 4,000 items from a geographical area that spans from Turkey to Central Asia to Yemen, alongside over 500 objects in our collections from North African countries. Dating from the 7th to the 21st centuries, they give an insight into the past and the present of the people living in these regions, particularly through representations of their different crafts, and the skills and social values associated with them. The museum’s collections reflect British and Scottish collectors’ interests in the Islamic world and embody entangled colonial histories and interrelations.","city":"Edinburgh","address":"Chambers Street,  \nEdinburgh EH1 1JF","website":"http://www.nms.ac.uk","phone":"+ 44 (0)300 123 6789","email":"info@nms.ac.uk"},"7712e497-33e4-5529-91c3-47abff00f87c":{"name":"National Archaeological Museum","description":"The National Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueológico Nacional or MAN) is Spain’s most important museum of history. It preserves, researches and presents its collections of archaeology, art and history to the public. In doing so, the museum aspires to offer all visitors an accurate, attractive, interesting and critical interpretation of the meaning of objects from the past, in the hopes that a deeper knowledge of history will help them to better analyse and understand the reality of today. Given the relevance and scope of its collections, the National Archaeological Museum is comparable in its specialty to prominent Spanish museums (Prado, Thyssen, Reina Sofía or the Royal Collections Gallery), by showing our country’s diversity and affluence in terms of cultural history.  \n  \nThe museum occupies a monumental building in the heart of the Salamanca quarter, one of Madrid’s busiest shopping and leisure districts, and is strategically positioned along the Recoletos-Prado artery, which boasts the highest concentration of art and culture institutions in the city. The museum’s magnificent building in the heart of Madrid offers a historical infrastructure — complete with building, garden and fence —which is fully renovated and accessible.  \n  \nThe MAN has grown and evolved constantly since it was created in 1867, almost 160 years ago, and is still changing today to meet the needs of the 21st century. After a complete overhaul between 2008 and 2014, the institution reopened in April 2014 with a brand-new look and layout, claiming its place among Europe’s most modern museums. The renovated building is divided into six floors and has a total surface area of nearly 30,000 m2, of which 18,304 m2 are reserved for public use (the permanent exhibition alone occupies 9,239 m2). The museum has also been fitted out with different service areas, including a spacious vestibule, café, shop and activity rooms.  \n  \nThe MAN’s extraordinary collection, which includes a large number of priceless historical and cultural artefacts, comprises over one million archaeological, historical and artistic objects.  \n  \nIts holdings are vast and varied: Palaeolithic bifaces, practically the only tool in existence for millennia; delicate ivory carvings that combine aesthetic appeal with practical functionality; prehistoric engravings found in the Cave of El Castillo, evidence of humanity’s earliest artistic and symbolic expressions; the abstract aesthetics of the “Idol of Extremadura”; the classical, timeless beauty of the Lady of Elche; ancient Roman sculptures; the extraordinary treasure of Guarrazar; the Romanesque crucifix of Ferdinand and Sancha; the lovely equestrian figure of Hector by Il Filarete; and the ornamental paintings of Luis Paret on a Baroque armchair are just some of the treasures it houses.  \n  \nThe Museum's Islamic Art collection largely comes from the different historical periods of Al-Andalus, the name that the Muslims gave to the territory they conquered in the Iberian Peninsula. The aesthetic quality achieved by Andalusian art is demonstrated in the capitals, arches, marble panels and alabaster and plaster decorations of the period, especially from the Caliphate of Córdoba. Added to this is the museum's collection of decorative and highly refined objects made in the Andalusian palace workshops, such as metal, ivory and glazed ceramics. Likewise, a large collection of objects is preserved that show the symbiosis of Hispano-Islamic and Christian forms in the Iberian Peninsula, as the dome of the Torrijos Palace.","city":"Madrid","address":"Serrano, 13  \n28001  \nMadrid, Spain","website":"http://www.man.es/","phone":"+34 91 577 79 12","email":"secretaria.man@mecd.es"},"804de1a6-e288-5381-8982-10883c9b8fcb":{"name":"Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities, Department of Antiquities","city":"Amman","address":"Department of Antiquities of Jordan (DoA)  \nP.O. Box 88  \nAmman, Jordan","website":"http://www.doa.gov.jo/En/index.php","phone":"+962 6 4644336, 4641275","email":"doa@nic.net.jo"},"85fff507-bb71-531b-85a8-f2b6d6324d8e":{"name":"Shangri La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art","description":"Built in Honolulu, Hawai'i from 1936–1938, Shangri La overlooks the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head and houses Doris Duke’s (1912–1993) collection of Islamic art. Of the many homes that Duke inhabited, Shangri La is the only one that she built from the ground up and filled from the inside out.  \n  \nThe five-acre complex integrates a 14,000-square-foot house, a Playhouse, and a pool, comprising a series of interlocking spaces, both indoors and out: rooms, courtyards, lanais, terraces, gardens, and numerous water features. While design and early construction were underway, Duke traveled extensively in the Middle East, visiting historical monuments and providing the architect with photographs of architectural decoration to be incorporated into Shangri La's design. She also placed large commissions with contemporary artisans in India, Morocco, Iran, and Syria to create art and architectural elements, utilizing traditional forms, patterns, and means of fabrication.  \n  \nFor nearly 60 years, Doris Duke continued to collect Islamic art, ultimately forming a collection of about 2,500 objects, many of which are embedded into the structure of the house. Iranian ceramic tile panels, carved and painted ceilings from Morocco, jali (perforated screen) doors and windows, and textiles and carpets create a living environment of Islamic art and architectural decoration.  \n  \nThe later centuries of production (c. 1600–1940) are better represented, and ceramics, metalwork, wood, glass and textiles are favored over the arts of the book and works on paper. The collection ranges from items of the finest artistic quality, including medieval Persian tilework and painted interiors from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Damascus, to ethnographic objects such as leather saddles and a bedouin-style tent, reflecting Duke's broad and inclusive sense of aesthetics.  \n  \nToday, Shangri La is nationally recognized for its high artistic value and as one of Hawai'i's most architecturally significant homes. It is open to the public for guided tours and educational programs such as lectures, performances and occasional symposia. Shangri La also supports residencies for contemporary artists and for scholars researching Islamic art.","city":"Honolulu","address":"4055 Papu Circle  \nHonolulu, HI 96816","website":"http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/","phone":"(808) 734-1941","email":"shangrilahawaii@ddcf.org"},"8a41ae85-1217-5a1f-a8f2-68da1d74234d":{"name":"National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art","description":"The National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art is the oldest museum in Algeria and Africa. The collection was set up in 1835, five years after the French occupation, by the then Governor General Marshal Clauzel who appointed Adrien Berbrugger as its first curator. From 1838 onward, the early museum hosted pieces, of Algerian provenance, from Antiquity up until the Ottoman periods. Between 1838 and 1896, this early museum occupied different places of the lower Casbah, before settling in a beautiful park located on the heights of Mustapha Pasha - now known as the Park of Liberty - where it was officially inaugurated in 1897.  \n  \nSince then these two divisions of the museum’s collection, Antiquity and Islamic, have continued to grow. This collection makes it possible to exhibit the history of Algeria from its Libyan-Punic era through to the 20th century. The objects are displayed in two separate buildings: one houses the pre-Islamic collection whilst the other houses the collection of Islamic art, which was inaugurated in May 2003.  \n  \nThe ancient collection is very rich and includes collections of mosaics, sculptures, Libyan and Latin inscriptions, coins and medals, bronze, ivory, bone, ceramics and wooden objects.  \n  \nThe Islamic section was formed from the first collection of 1854, which included Algerian and Oriental objects. It has gradually been enriched by pieces uncovered through archaeological excavations carried throughout the country. This wide-ranging collection includes sculpted plasterboard from 10th century Sedrata, marble or plaster sculptures of the 11th century Qal'a of Beni Hammad as well as the chairs of the 11th century Almoravid mosques in Algiers and the 12th century mosque of Nedroma.  \n  \nThe furniture arts of North Africa is also widely represented in this museum. Shop windows contain Ottoman-era embroidery, clothing, ceramics, weapons, jewellery, chiselled brass and worked repoussé that comes from the urban centres as well as rural areas. Manuscripts and miniatures complete the collection.  \n  \nThe museum’s numismatic collection is exhibited in a reading room that was inaugurated in May 2006.","city":"Algiers","address":"177, bd Krim-Belkacem, Parc de la Liberté  \nAlgiers, Algeria","website":"https://m-culture.gov.dz/index.php/fr/mus%C3%A9es","phone":"+213 0 21 68 11 29","email":"museemna@musee-antiquites.art.dz"},"8cce8832-baec-59fe-a3c0-e47ad8d4d6d9":{"name":"The Chester Beatty Library","description":"The Chester Beatty Library is an art museum and library that houses some of the finest treasures of the great cultures and religions of the world. The Library’s collections were bequeathed to the Irish people by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968), an American mining engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist of Scots-Irish descent who moved from New York to London in 1911. He become a naturalized British citizen in 1933, and in 1954, although no longer living in Britain, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his wartime services to Britain. In 1950, Chester Beatty moved his by-then large collection to Dublin, where he built a library on Shrewsbury Road in the city’s suburbs. The library opened to researchers in 1953 and later also to the public. In 1957, he became the first person to be made an honorary citizen of Ireland, and he was also the first private citizen in the country to be accorded a state funeral. Besides his library, he made many other gifts to Ireland, including a large collection of nineteenth-century French paintings, now in the National Gallery of Ireland, and a collection of arms and armour, now in the Curragh Military Museum in County Kildare. In 2000, the Chester Beatty Library moved to new premises in Dublin Castle, in the city centre.  \n  \nThe Library’s collections consist of Western, East Asian and Islamic material, mainly manuscripts, printed books and other works on paper, although the East Asian Collections also include a large range of decorative arts. The Library has two permanent galleries, the Sacred Traditions and Arts of the Book galleries, and a smaller gallery for temporary exhibitions.  \n  \nThe five sections of the Islamic Collections consist of a total of just over 6100 individual items that are generally regarded as comprising one of the finest such collections outside the Middle East. Of especial note is the Qur’an Collection, which includes some of the earliest Qur’ans in existence, dated to the early 8th century, and renowned manuscripts such as the Qur’an copied by Ibn al-Bawwab in Baghdad in 1000AD. The Persian Collection includes works by all the major classical Persian poets including an especially fine collection of *Shahnama* manuscripts. Mainly religious texts make up the Turkish Collection, although it also includes major 16th-century, illustrated historical works, such as a history of the Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. The Library is also well known for its very fine Mughal Collection, which includes over 1000 individual folios of calligraphy and painting, most notable of the latter being the many portraits of the Mughal emperors. In contrast to the magnificent works of art (often in near pristine condition) found in these collections are the more than 2600 manuscripts of the Arabic Collection, which are mostly undecorated, often very worn, and frequently the only surviving copy of a particular text. The Library also possesses a small collection of Islamic art objects, such as detached bindings, amulets, pencases and quadrants.","city":"Dublin","address":"Dublin Castle  \nDublin 2, Ireland","website":"https://chesterbeatty.ie/","phone":"+353 1 40 70 750","email":"info@cbl.ie"},"95483cda-d367-5af3-ad0e-2779b97409cb":{"name":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah","description":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI) is a cultural organisation based on a Kuwaiti private art collection owned by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, founder of The al-Sabah Collection and his wife, DAI director general and co-founder Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah.  \n  \nEstablished in 1983, DAI was created to manage The al-Sabah Collection, an esteemed collection of Islamic art on permanent loan to the State of Kuwait under the auspices of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. The collection preserves and presents all aspects of Islamic art and includes more than 20,000 pieces extending from Spain to China, from the 1st – 13th centuries AH/7th – 19th centuries AD.  \n  \nSince its inception, DAI has grown from a single focus organisation to an internationally recognised cultural organisation. DAI’s main activities include:  \n  \n• An annual Cultural Season (lectures, music concerts, forum, workshops, children’s programme, quarterly magazine/journal, quarterly newsletter, cultural expeditions)  \n• Travelling exhibitions and loans  \n• Conservation training programmes  \n• Research and excavation projects  \n  \nWith a highly specialised library, DAI is also involved in the publication of scholarly books on Islamic art and culture.  \n  \nWhile the rehabilitation project of DAI’s buildings at the Kuwait National Museum is underway, the Amricani Cultural Centre is the temporary home of DAI. The Amricani Cultural Centre is the ground for most of the organization’s activities and events, including local temporary exhibitions and DAI’s cultural season events.","city":"Kuwait City","address":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah  \nAmricani Cultural Centre  \nP.O. BOX: 23996 Safat 13100 Kuwait","website":"https://daralatharalislamiyyah.com/en/home-page-en/","phone":"+965 2240 0992","email":"info@darmuseumkw.org"},"a05b0a22-d90a-5e08-85e3-53fd66868e26":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art","description":"The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) is a pioneering project spotlighting the cultural vision of the State of Qatar, both in the region and across the world. Under the guiding vision of His Excellency, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the project is the cornerstone for the State of Qatar in its establishment as a global capital of culture.  \n  \nThe 35,500 sq. m museum was designed by I.M. Pei, taking inspiration from the 13th-century *sabil* (ablutions fountain) of the 9th-century Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun in Cairo. The museum comprises a five-level main building and a two-storey Education Wing, connected across a fountain courtyard. The main building’s angular planes form ascending pinnacles, rising around an atrium. Inside, a dome is revealed, concealed from outside view by the walls of a central tower. A window on the building’s north side rises to a height of 54 m., providing dramatic views from all five floors. The ground floor is home to a temporary gallery space for touring international exhibitions and the café, giftshop and Information Services. The museum’s permanent exhibition is installed on two floors of galleries designed by the French firm Jean-Michel Wilmotte & Associés. The fourth floor contains temporary galleries showcasing the research topics of museum staff, using items either not seen in the permanent galleries or with new information to see them in a new way.  \n  \n**Overview of the collections**  \nThe MIA houses artefacts highlighting the creative achievements of the Islamic world's richest cultures and spanning nearly a thousand years. The collection represents the full scope of Islamic art in all media, from manuscripts to ceramics, metalwork, glass, stone, ivory, textiles, wood, precious stones and jewellery.  \n  \nThe permanent exhibition of *c.* 850 artefacts offers an insight into the diverse art of the Islamic world. Two floors are dedicated to the exploration of historical eras and interpretation of the themes of Islamic art and material culture, from the 8th century to the cusp of the 19th century.  \n  \nThe MIA also holds thousands more objects, some destined to be seen in future displays and others providing a resource for education and research.  \n  \nHighlights of the collection include: a distinguished group of carpets and textiles, a range of Ayyubid and Mamluk metalwork and enamelled glass, an outstanding strength in early ceramics, a comprehensive collection of astrolabes and scientific instruments, masterpieces of Mughal jewellery and rare manuscripts and miniatures.  \n  \n**The Department of Education and Information**  \nThe department’s main goal is to create materials, programmes and workshops that will engage the public, allowing them to explore the world through Islamic art, promoting a culture of learning within an atmosphere of knowledge and entertainment.  \n  \n**The Curatorial Department**  \nThe department of internationally trained curators is committed to studying, documenting and publicising the MIA’s collection and establishing the MIA as a world-class centre of scholarly research.  \n  \n**The Conservation Department**  \nSet to become a leading regional service centre for museums, the department is committed to restoring, preserving and caring for the collection through the application of innovative scientific methods.  \n  \n**International partnerships**  \nThe MIA is committed to building a network of partnerships around the world and offering institutes and museums collective access to information, research and images. It has strong ties with many world-class museums and collections, including the Louvre, France, the British Museum, UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA, the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Germany, the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, the Gulbenkian, Portugal, and the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art, Algeria.","city":"Doha","address":"Museum of Islamic Art roundabout, the Corniche  \nPostal Address: P.O. Box 2777  \nDoha, Qatar","website":"http://mia.org.qa/","phone":"+974 4422 4444","email":"infomia@qma.org.qa; educationmia@qma.org.qa; librarymia@qma.org.qa"},"afffcb31-4567-5a53-ab82-c5452bdcf51e":{"name":"Karatay Madrasa Tilework Museum","description":"Karatay Madrasa was built in 1251 (649, H.) by Emir Celaleddin Karatay during the period of II. İzzettin Keykavus. Its architect is unknown. The madrasa, which was also used during the Ottoman era, was abandoned at the end of the 19th century. Karatay Madrasa, which holds an important place in the tile artefacts of the Anadolu Seljukid period, was opened to visitors in 1955 as the Tile Artefacts Museum.  \n  \nThe single-storied madrasa was built in the closed madrasa type in the Seljukid Era for *hadith* and *tafsir* education. Entering through the door, you arrive in a courtyard covered with a dome (now open), and from there you go through another door to the madrasa. The madrasa’s courtyard is covered by a dome with an opening to provide light and air, and is decorated with mosaic tiles. Short verses are written on the upper parts of the walls, on the dome pulley and on panels of cell doors.  \n  \nBasmala and Ayat-el Kursi inscriptions are located in the arches of the main house, through a tunnel vault to the west of the building. Triangles – transitional architectural elements of the dome – include the names of the prophets Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and David, and the names of the four caliphs: Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman and Ali. The domed cell to the left of the iwan is the tomb of Celaleddin Karatay.  \n  \nMost of the mosaic tiles that once covered the walls are gone. The colours of the remaining tiles are turquoise, dark blue and black.  \n  \nThe artefacts exhibited are from the Anatolian Seljukid and Ottoman periods. Tiles, plaster works, ceramic plates, candle holders and unglazed ceramics are exhibited in the chamber where the tomb of Celaleddin Karatay stands, and in the students’ cells to the south. The tiles from the Kubad-Abad Palace were made using lustre and underglaze techniques, and cross, semi-cross, eight-pointed star and square shapes.  \n  \nThe iwan contains tile remnants from the Seljukid era, and ceramics from the Seljukid and Ottoman periods. In the domed hall glass plates, tile pieces, ceiling fragments from Eşrefoğlu Mosque, and ceramics from the Ottoman era are displayed.","city":"Konya","address":"Alaeddin Meydanı  \nKonya, Turkey","phone":"+90 332 351 19 14"},"b01aedf8-4844-5526-8c45-e7dc4bd7a559":{"name":"Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation","description":"The Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation aims to display, interpret, research and further develop the museum's collections for a wide range of local, national and international audiences, and to stimulate knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of Islamic art, history, science and culture.  \n  \nThe magnificent building that houses the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation first opened in 1987 as the Souq al-Majarrah and quickly became a popular landmark, both among the people of Sharjah themselves and visiting tourists. The building was only the second of its kind in the Gulf region, after Sharjah’s “’New”’ or “Central’’ Souq constructed in 1977, to use traditional, Arab-Islamic design elements in its ground-plan and décor. The building with its impressive architecture and attractive design features was subsequently renovated and reopened in 2008 as the Museum of Islamic Civilisation. Its most outstanding feature is its majestic, gilt central dome, decorated on the inside with an intricate mosaic depicting the night sky and the signs of the zodiac.  \n  \nThe building now transformed into a state-of-the art cultural venue, the new **Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation**, houses more than five thousand exquisite Islamic artefacts from all over the Islamic World, arranged according to themes over seven spacious galleries and display areas.  \n  \nOn the ground floor you can visit the **Abu Bakr Gallery of Islamic Faith**, the **Ibn al Haitham Gallery of Islamic Science and Innovation**, a prominent display of **Islamic Coinage**, and the **Al Majarrah Gallery for temporary exhibitions** which is scheduled to hold regular exhibitions of international standing.  \n  \nThe entire first floor of the **Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation** is devoted to **Islamic Art**. Four spacious galleries take the visitor on a journey of artistic discovery which starts in the early Islamic period and leads all the way to modern times. Start your explorations with a visit to our state-of-the-art audiovisual show. Enjoy stunning images from all over the Muslim world and learn about the artistic achievements of its calligraphers and artisans.","city":"Sharjah","address":"Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation, Corniche Road, Al Majarrah Area, Sharjah.  \nPostal address: P.O.BOX 39939, Sharjah.","website":"https://www.sharjahmuseums.ae/","phone":"+97165655455","email":"info@islamicmuseum.ae"},"b43ae2c6-2060-5819-bd1c-dd9ca66b9f11":{"name":"Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)","description":"With 100,000 objects dating from ancient times to the present, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the western United States. A museum of international stature as well as a vital part of Southern California, LACMA shares its vast collections through exhibitions, public programs, and research facilities that attract nearly a million visitors annually.  \n  \nLACMA’s seven-building complex is located on twenty acres in the heart of Los Angeles, halfway between the ocean and downtown. The campus is undergoing a ten-year expansion and renovation known as the Transformation and designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop.  \n  \nLACMA’s collections encompass the geographic world and virtually the entire history of art. The museum houses a highly significant collection of Islamic art. These widely diverse arts, from an area extending from southern Spain to Central Asia, trace the distinctive visual imagination of Islamic artists over a period of fourteen hundred years. The collection consists of over 1,700 works, of which some 150 examples are on view; these include glazed ceramics, inlaid metalwork, enameled glass, carved wood and stone, and manuscript illustration, illumination, and calligraphy. Particular strengths of the collection are glazed pottery and tiles from Iran and Turkey; glass, especially from the late seventh to the mid-thirteenth century; and Persian and Turkish arts of the book.  \n  \nThe museum began to concentrate seriously on Islamic art in 1973, with the acquisition of the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, the generous gift of Joan Palevsky. Although the Heeramaneck collection forms the nucleus of the Islamic holdings, the focus and scope of the collection have developed considerably since 1973. Two important additions, both gifts, occurred in the 1980s. In 1985 the noted collector Edwin Binney, 3rd, bequeathed more than one hundred works, in particular examples of the arts of the book and ceramics of the Ottoman period. Approximately fifty glass objects, primarily of the early Islamic period, from Hans and Varya Cohn's splendid collection were given to the museum in 1988. The collection has been augmented further over the past two decades through gift and purchase, most notably the acquisition in 2002 of the Madina Collection of Islamic Art, made possible in large part by a generous gift from longtime LACMA benefactor and Trustee Camilla Chandler Frost. Its addition has created a new international focus on Los Angeles and on LACMA.","city":"Los Angeles","address":"5905 Wilshire Boulevard  \nLos Angeles, CA 90036","website":"http://www.lacma.org/","phone":"323 857 6000","email":"publicinfo@lacma.org"},"b4586981-2102-51f3-a3a7-5094a3b23509":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Numismatic Museum of the al-Maghreb Bank**  \nRabat, Morocco  \n  \n**National Library**  \nRabat, Morocco  \n  \n**Badi Palace**  \nMarrakesh, Morocco  \n  \n**Royal Library**  \nRabat, Morocco  \n  \n**Ethnographic Museum**  \nTetouan, Morocco  \n  \n**Archeological Museum**  \nTetouan, Morocco  \n  \n**Museum of Ceramics**  \nSalé, Morocco  \n  \n**Kasbah Museum**  \nTangiers, Morocco","city":"Rabat, Marrakech, Tetouan, Salé, Tangiers"},"b49b6caf-2037-5450-9920-62d736638529":{"name":"Madaba Archaeological Museum","description":"This museum was founded in 1974 in one of the old houses of Madaba that was purchased by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and transformed into a museum.  \n  \nThis museum holds artefacts and finds that have been recovered during excavations in many archaeological sites in Madaba region. These artefacts consist mainly of pottery and glass vessels, metalwork, coins and mosaic floors. Their dates range from the Iron Age to the Islamic periods.","city":"Madaba","address":"P.O.B. 12  \nMadaba, Jordan","phone":"+962 5 3244189"},"c0c2fa4f-c38c-578e-8cc1-4703cc60b8a9":{"name":"Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts","description":"The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts was the first museum in Turkey to bring together works of Islamic art. It was founded in 1914 as the Museum of Islamic Foundations and housed in the Imaret building of the Süleymaniye Complex, built by the great Turkish architect Sinan in the 16th century. The museum was renamed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts after the declaration of the republic and moved to its present location in the 16th-century Ibrahim Paşa Palace in 1983.  \n  \nThe core collection of the museum comprises Islamic artworks collected from across the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. These works include carpets, manuscripts, metalwork, glassware, ceramics, woodwork and ethnographic materials. The collection represents an extensive period ranging from the rise of Islam to the 20th century and the vast geographical area ruled by the Ottoman Empire.  \n  \nThe carpets, numbering some 1,700, in their quality and variety constitute one of the most important collections of carpets in the world, so that the museum is sometimes thought of as a carpet museum. But the museum also has other outstanding collections: the manuscripts collection represents all the ruling Islamic states from the AH 1st / AD 7th century to the 20th century across a wide geographical area. The metalwork collection allows visitors to follow the development of Turkish metalwork in Anatolia and the rich collection of woodwork ranges from the AH 3rd / AD 9th century to the Ottoman period. The glassware and pottery collections include artefacts recovered during excavations at renowned Abbasid centres such as Samarra and Keshan (Iran) and Raqqa (Syria) as well as artefacts from the Anatolian Turkish period. The stonework, most bearing inscriptions, includes examples from the Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk, Seljuq and Ottoman periods. The ethnographic department is the newest section.  \n  \nThe museum also organises, hosts and participates in temporary national and international exhibitions.  \n  \nAfter the grand restoration works The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts re-opened in April 2014, exactly 100 years after its foundation, with special exhibitions to celebrate its hundredth anniversary.","city":"İstanbul","address":"İbrahim Paşa Sarayı Atmeydanı Sok. No: 46  \nSultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey","website":"https://muze.gen.tr/muze-detay/tiem","phone":"+90 212 518 18 05 / 06","email":"tiem@tiem.gov.tr"},"c437d47d-865a-58fa-982d-c7443c17820b":{"name":"Aqaba Archaeological Museum","description":"This museum is located in the former house of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, which was acquired from the local government by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in 1979 and was opened to the public in 1990. The museum includes artefacts from excavated sites in the Aqaba district; they range in date from the mid-7th millennium BC to the beginning of the AD 12th century. Particularly important are the ceramic and steatite vessels excavated from Islamic Ayla (Aqaba), which include glazed- and lustrewares from Iraq and Egypt as well as celadons from China.","city":"Aqaba","address":"P.O.B. 971  \nAqaba, Jordan","phone":"+962 3 2019063"},"c4647cf3-9e83-5e5e-9a5b-4af7ed883bb1":{"name":"The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts","description":"The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts (The Khanenko Museum) keeps the key national collection of world arts in Ukraine. It was established in 1919 on the basis of rich private collection of art and antiquities made up by a couple of outstanding Ukrainian art amateurs, collectors and philanthropists Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko. The historical private mansion of the Khanenkos, built in late 1880s, is a particular object of interest and fascination due to its exquisite stylised interiors.  \n  \nToday the museum holds more than 25 000 works of painting, sculpture, prints as well as various kinds of applied arts of Europe (14th -19th century), Western, Central and Eastern Asia (3rd century BC – 20th century) and the Ancient World (4th millennium BC – 4th century). The world-famous rarities, four oldest Byzantine “Sinai” icons from 6th and 7th centuries, are an important part of the museum collection and display.  \n  \nThe museum permanent exhibition area is about 1300 m2. There are also two halls for temporary exhibitions with total area of 150 m2 that host Ukrainian and international museum art projects. In coming years the museum plans to enlarge its exhibition, educational, and depository areas by adding a new contemporary building in the yard.  \n  \nBeing the leading Ukrainian institution of informal education the Khanenko museum offers a wide spectrum of programs for adults, youth and children, visitors with disabilities. A new accessible official museum website in Ukrainian and English is currently under development planned to be launched in November 2019.","city":"Kyiv","address":"Tereshchenkivska Street 15-17  \n01004","website":"https://www.khanenkomuseum.kiev.ua/en/main","phone":"+38044 2350206"},"c8825cec-041d-5069-bbce-82c394d5e619":{"name":"National Museum Oman","description":"The National Museum of the Sultanate of Oman, established by royal decree in 2013 and opened July 30, 2016, is the Sultanate's flagship cultural institution, showcasing the nation’s heritage from the earliest human settlement in the Oman Peninsula some two million years ago through to the present day. As a national institution with global outreach, the museum is dedicated to ensuring that Oman’s cultural heritage is understood and appreciated not only within the Sultanate, but also internationally. Further, it aims to provide opportunities for cultural expression, innovation, and the transfer of traditional skills and knowledge from one generation to the next.  \n  \nThe museum is located in the heart of Muscat in a purpose-designed building. The total area of the building is 13,700 square metres (147,000 sq ft), including 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) allocated for 14 permanent galleries – The Land and the People Gallery, Maritime History Gallery, Arms and Armour Gallery, Aflaj Gallery, Currency Gallery, Prehistory and Ancient History Galleries, Splendours of Islam Gallery, Oman and the World Gallery, Intangible Heritage Gallery and Renaissance Gallery, among others. A further 400 square metres (4,300 sq ft) are allocated for temporary exhibitions.  \n  \nThe National Museum houses 5,466 objects and offers 43 digital immersive experiences, a fully equipped Learning Centre, conservation facilities, an ultra-high definition cinema, and discovery areas for children. It features an integrated infrastructure for special needs and is the first museum in the Middle East to adopt Arabic Braille script for the visually impaired. The museum contains a voluminous collection of prehistoric metallic artefacts. It also houses the region’s first open-plan museum storage concept, where visitors can learn about the various processes that artefacts go through before they are put on display.","city":"Muscat","address":"P.O.Box: (1105)  \n113 Muscat","website":"https://www.nm.gov.om/","email":"booking@nm.gov.om"},"c9284900-9055-5081-9abe-863fad506cdc":{"name":"‘Ajlun Castle Museum","description":"This small museum was established in 1993 and renovated in 2003. It is located inside ‘Ajlun Castle. The artefacts displayed in the museum are limited to finds from ‘Ajlun district and date from the Neolithic to the Islamic periods. The collection consists mainly of pottery vessels, glass bottles, stone tools, metalwork, coins and inscriptions found in and around the castle.","city":"‘Ajlun","address":"P.O.B. 86  \n‘Ajlun, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 6420206"},"ce4d8147-795e-5a50-9c18-cf90561d29e5":{"name":"Rabat Archaeological Museum","description":"**Historical Description**  \n  \nWith 550 objects on display and thousands more in storage, the Rabat Archaeological Museum, founded in 1928, is one of the most prestigious national museums. It traces the history of Morocco from prehistoric times to the Islamic era. It is the culmination of a series of expansions and improvements that have made possible the inclusion of prehistoric, ancient and Islamic collections. A museum tour developed after renovations in 2003–04 highlights objects from excavations of the Almohad Tinmel Mosque and around the Koutoubia Mosque of Marrakesh.  \n  \n**Museum Collections**  \n  \nThe exhibits are displayed in three rooms, a patio and a garden.  \n  \n– On the ground floor, a chronological tour retraces the history of pre-Islamic Morocco: prehistoric civilisations, and then the Phoenician, Mauritanian and Roman eras, each represented by characteristic tools and objects.  \n  \n– Upstairs, the Islamic collections are organised by themes. Coins come from successive dynasties in Morocco. Ceramics display different techniques specific to the Islamic period, such *cuerda seca* (dry cord), stamping, metallic or polychrome glazes. Housing is represented both in its structural and decorative aspects: concrete work, but also murals, painted or engraved wood, capitals, trellises, stucco, and more.  \n  \n– The second themed section highlights antique marble statuary, with different artistic movements from Mauritania Tingitana (a Roman province). Prestigious works illustrate mythology and the history and public life of the Roman Empire: Venus, Theseus Slaying the Minotaur, Ephebe Pouring Drink, an imposing head of Juno, and busts of Juba II and Cato are among many pieces of inestimable scientific and aesthetic value.  \n  \n– The third section has a collection of inscriptions and rock carvings.  \n  \n*The Rabat Archaeological Museum is known today as the Museum of History and Civilisations.*","city":"Rabat","address":"23, rue Brihi  \nRabat, Morocco","phone":"+212 537 70 19 19"},"cf8ec428-5799-50a3-9650-91f330ba6493":{"name":"Dar Jamaï Museum","description":"The Jamai Palace was built in 1882 by Mokhtar bin Larbi Jamai, the grand vizier of the sultan Moulay Hassan I, according to an inscription in the reception hall. The French bought it in 1912, and they converted it successively into a hospital, a military court, and in 1920, into the “Museum of Indigenous Arts”, devoted to the handicrafts of Meknes and the surrounding mountainous Middle Atlas and Rif regions. Inspired by Spanish-Maghrebi design and decoration, Dar Jamai was created to meet the needs of private and public life.  \n  \n**Museum Collections**  \n  \nOn the ground floor, three rooms dedicated to ceramics from Fez and Tafilalet, ceramics from Meknes-Fez and painted and sculpted wood lead to the central patio. Two rooms formerly reserved for women also open onto the patio; one is dedicated to costumes and embroidery, the other to urban and rural jewellery.  \n  \nThe vizier’s private Moorish bath displays *hammam* objects such as wooden buckets, small brass containers, woolen gloves, and the like.  \n  \nThe room of old ironwork includes panels with keys, padlocks, knockers, chandeliers, locks, and a complete set of blacksmithing tools.  \n  \nPottery from the Rif region, Zarhoun pottery and metalwork are displayed in the former kitchens, while pavilions and corridors are decorated with various small carpets and manuscripts.  \n  \nThe textile room has two looms, tapestries and blankets.  \n  \nUpstairs, the bride’s room and the *koubba*, where the vizier received his distinguished guests – a sumptuous cupola decorated with terracotta tiles and stucco – is covered by a painted and carved cedar ceiling. This ceremonial salon with alcoves is furnished in the Makhzen tradition: brass, Rabat carpets, sofas, embroidered silks from Meknes, Rabat and Salé, velvets embroidered in gold, leather cushions, mosquito nets, and more.  \n  \nThe last room is devoted to weapons from the Rif, Souss and Tafilalet regions of Morocco.","city":"Meknès","address":"Place Hadim  \nMeknès, Morocco","phone":"+212 535 540 863"},"d077cb9e-6c63-5943-b0b0-ef3de9ccf2af":{"name":"Khalili Family Trust – Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","description":"In striving to provide a synoptic vision of the arts of the entire Islamic world, and since the 1970s, Professor Nasser D. Khalili has assembled his collection of Islamic art under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust. With holdings of more than 28,000 objects documenting the range of artistic production of the Islamic lands over a period of some 1400 years, the Collection now ranks among the best in the world and represents a new generation of Islamic art collections.  \n  \nThe Collection includes an outstanding array of manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an and of illustrated manuscripts, and the coverage of the decorative arts – ceramics, textiles, glass, metalwork and lacquer as well as seals and coins – is comprehensive.  \n  \nThe holdings of manuscripts and folios of the Holy Qur’an are the first to have been assembled systematically in order to illustrate the whole history of Qur’an production, both in terms of time span and geographical range – from the 8th to the 20th centuries, and from Morocco to China. Similar sequences have been assembled for painting and the decorative arts. Glass, ceramics and metalwork, for example, are represented in the full range of techniques from the pre-Islamic period through to the 19th century.  \n  \nLater Islamic art has been given the same level of attention. The wealth of important objects and manuscripts from later periods in the Collection shows that much art worthy of our attention on aesthetic as well as historical and intellectual grounds was produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Another important art form of this period is Islamic lacquer, represented in the Collection by more than 500 examples.  \n  \nThe catalogue of the Collection is an unprecedented 27-volume series, of which several are now published, and when completed will form a unique survey of the field to date. *Studies in the Khalili Collection* is a second series of publications related to the Islamic art collection, presenting more detailed analysis of certain objects.","city":"London","website":"http://www.khalilicollections.org","email":"info@nourhouse.com"},"d10f1d84-ce50-539f-aad0-624ff1d3e8c9":{"name":"Topkapı Palace Museum","description":"Topkapı Palace, the administrative and residential palace of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul, was completed by AH 882 / AD 1478 after the city had been conquered by Mehmed II. It was used continuously by the Ottoman rulers until they moved to the palaces built along the Bosphorus in the 13th / 19th century. After the declaration of the Republic of Turkey, the palace became a museum on 3 April 1924 by order of Atatürk.  \nThe palace became a grandiose, multi-functional structure through continual development and additional construction by different sultans, which also reflects the institutional structure of the Ottoman Empire. The splendour and multi-level structure of Ottoman protocol and hierarchy can clearly be seen in the architecture. Even the rise and the fall of the empire found its artistic expression in the palace. As well as being a stage for the dramatic events of the past, this palace is one of the few examples of its kind that survived along with its historical lifestyle.  \n  \nAmong the items exhibited in the museum are portraits and costumes of the sultans, Chinese and Japanese porcelains used in the palace, metal kitchenware, Yıldız porcelain and glassware, European porcelain and silver items, Islamic and Turkish weapons. Holy relics of Prophet Mohammed and the first caliphs that were brought from Medina in the early 10th / 16th century by Selim I are exhibited in the Holy Relics section. Among those relics are the mantle of the Prophet Mohammed, his swords and his foot print.  \n  \nFour thrones, aigrette-holders, the Topkapı dagger and the diamond of Kaşıkçı are the most famous examples of the items from the treasury of the Ottomans. The museum's archive holds important documents of correspondence of the Ottoman Sultans and its library contains famous manuscripts from the Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman periods.  \n  \nTopkapı Palace Museum operates under the Directorate of National Palaces of the Presidency of the Republic.","city":"Istanbul","address":"Sultanahmet  \nFatih, İstanbul, Turkey","website":"https://www.millisaraylar.gov.tr/en","phone":"+90 212 512 04 80; +90 212 236","email":"info@ millisaraylar.gov.tr"},"d2b9c791-32d7-590a-9a1b-3f6766d360d6":{"name":"Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum (FBQ Museums)","description":"Founded in 1998 by H.E. Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum (FBQ) is the Sheikh’s brainchild and a monument to his enduring passion for collecting international items of peculiar and historical relevance.  \n  \nA museum with a global perspective, FBQ brings together over 30,000 objects from across the ages and a multitude of cultures. It represents, in effect, a modern version of a ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, the historic and eclectic room of marvels from the Renaissance.  \n  \nThe journey through more than 30 galleries ranges from the prehistoric to the present day, encompassing several themes: Islamic art, Qatari heritage, carpets, weapons, vehicles, jewellery and currency. Gallery highlights also include a rebuilt Syrian house and the Quran room. The artefacts showcased in FBQ’s galleries embody Islam’s visual culture and its far-reaching traditions from southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. The thematic presentation of the works draws attention to the similarities of artistic forms and cultural expressions and their interdependence among societies.  \n  \nFBQ is much more than a museum. Since the construction of the main museum in Al Shahaniya in 1998 using local stone and traditional turrets, FBQ has been fulfilling the museum founder’s aim to create and share a new cultural heritage for Qatar and beyond. With the establishment of the Carpet Museum in the heart of Doha in 2014 and the addition of the Car Museum, the FBQ complex of museums aims to inspire people to engage with cultural heritage by sharing stories from near and far. FBQ strives to foster cross-cultural dialogue through exhibitions, education and public programs, both locally and internationally.  \n  \nIn 2010, the museum was selected by Qatar’s Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Heritage as one of the cultural landmarks of the ‘Doha 2010 Capital of Culture’ activities.","city":"Doha","address":"Zone 80, Street 9999 Building No. 365, Al Samariya  \nAl Shahaniya, Doha Qatar  \nP.O. Box number 006","website":"www.fbqmuseum.org","phone":"+974 4486 1444","email":"info@fbqmuseum.org"},"d9f6c12d-ca03-5d6e-b33c-c1a37daec1fa":{"name":"Glasgow Museums","description":"Although not the capital, Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland. It prides itself on its multi-cultural scene with a prosperous Muslim community representing the largest non-white Scottish group in the city and in Scotland. The Glasgow Museums collection is the biggest managed by any local authority in the United Kingdom and one of a handful of municipal collections that are recognized to have national importance. This service was founded in 1854 with the McLellan collection of European paintings, which was donated to the people of Glasgow by Archibald McLellan together with a building to house it. At present Glasgow manages thirteen public museums covering a wide range of subjects.  \n  \nGlasgow’s Islamic collections come from all over the world with objects from Africa, Spain, the Middle East and Central Asia. The oldest items date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The earliest objects to enter the museums’ collections were donated in the 1870s. Though many of these are private donations, some were purchased by the museum service. The Islamic collections are mainly housed at The Burrell Collection, The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  \n  \nThe main strength of the Islamic collections lies in the large donation of Sir William Burrell and his wife, who gifted their massive and varied collection to Glasgow in 1944. It includes Iranian and Mughal Indian ceramics and carpets, Turkish and Uzbek textiles and embroideries, and Hispano-Moresque lustrewares. The other Islamic collections of Glasgow Museums include objects from Mughal India, Fatimid and Mamluk Egypt and Syria, the Ottoman Middle East, and 19th century Berber and Arab North Africa. In addition to all of the above, Glasgow Museums is interested in developing its contemporary Islamic collections by welcoming donations of modern Islamic arts and crafts, as well as strengthening the other areas within its Islamic collections.","city":"Glasgow","address":"The Burrell Collection  \nPollok Country Park  \n2060 Pollokshaws Road  \nG43 1AT  \nGlasgow, United Kingdom","website":"http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/","phone":"+44 141 2872550"},"dcd4bbe2-60f3-5f7f-8e3a-0eba386ac5bf":{"name":"Sidi Kacem al-Jalizi Museum","description":"Built during the 9th / 15th century by Sidi Kacem, the mausoleum has been transformed into a museum of ceramics. It consists of an entrance hall leading to a ceramics workshop, and to a patio surrounded by rooms and a funeral space. The courtyard galleries and alcoves have been converted into exhibition spaces for ceramic objects. This collection traces different eras of Muslim history in Tunisia, and also includes objects of Persian origin.  \n  \nCeramic objects dating back to the Aghlabid era can be identified by the use of metallic lustre, archaic Kufic script, and stylised zoomorphic and anthropomorphic drawings as decoration. The pieces dating back to the Fatimid period are illustrated with animated scenes in blue on a white background.  \n  \nHafsid ceramics are distinguished by the absence of illustrated scenes in favour of geometric motifs with floral decoration in which cobalt blue and manganese brown dominate. There are also ceramic tiles dating back to the Ottoman era, some of which are decorated with bouquets of flowers.","city":"Tunis","address":"Musée de Sidi Kacem Al-Jalizi  \nrue du 9 Avril  \nTunis, Tunisia","phone":"+216 71 321452"},"de2dbebd-e2b6-5434-b061-c35adc183958":{"name":"Udayas Museum (National Museum of Jewellery)","description":"**Historical Description**  \n  \nCreated in 1915, the Oudayas Museum is one of the oldest public museums in Morocco, along with the Batha Museum in Fez. The Oudayas Museum contains one of the largest museum collections in the country.  \n  \nA landmark in the history of Morocco, the Oudayas Casbah was originally a fort built by the Almoravids (10th–12th centuries) on the cliff overlooking the Bouregreg estuary. In the 12th century, under the Almohads, Abdelmoumen renovated the fort into a royal residence and defensive post in support of the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1609, Philip II of Spain expelled nearly one million Moriscos – descendants of Muslims who at that time were living in Spain under Christian rule. Among these were 2,000 Arabic-speaking Muslims, the Hornacheros, who settled in the Oudayas Casbah and established an independent republic that engaged in piracy. The turbulent history of the Bouregreg estuary ended with the Alaouite Sidi Mohammed bin Abdellah (1757–89).  \n  \nThroughout its history the Oudayas Casbah has been the site of major construction works, including Bab el-Kebir, the monumental Almohad gate; the rampart of the Alaouite sultan Moulay Rachid; and the princely residence of Moulay Ismaïl (1672–1727).  \n  \n**The Museum**  \n  \nBuilt in the former pavilions of the sultan Moulay Ismaïl, the Oudayas Museum is an Andalusian-inspired architectural masterpiece. Initially comprising private collections (Libert: ceramics, brass and carved wood; Besancenot: silver jewels), it has been continuously enriched by new acquisitions. All currently displayed collections of manuscripts, coins, astrolabes, clothing, carpets, cabinetry, weapons, and so on, are from the Islamic period.  \n  \nThe first room features silver and gold-plated jewellery from the High Atlas, Middle Atlas, Anti-Atlas and the Sahara. Two loggias house blue or polychrome enamelled ceramics from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Clothing and ceremonial accessories of city-dwellers follow, and finally there is a collection of gold ornaments of high aesthetic and historical value.","city":"Rabat","address":"Musée National des Bijoux (Ancien musée des Oudayas)  \nCasbah des Oudayas  \nRabat, Morocco","phone":"+212 537 731537"},"defa425b-fe47-5a8e-bb82-33721be61de9":{"name":"Batha Museum","description":"Built in 1885, the original building was a courthouse and summer residence of the Alaouite sultan Moulay Hassan I before being renovated as a museum in 1915. The Batha Museum brings together archaeological collections, architectural elements and ethnographic objects relating to the city of Fez and its surrounding area. Since a reorganisation in 2006, the museum’s theme has revolved around spiritual life and the art of living.  \n  \nThrough large rooms overlooking the patio and garden, the tour begins with the city’s Islamic origins: manuscripts illuminated with gold leaf, liturgical wooden objects, planispheric brass astrolabes – and a rare example of a leather astrolabe dial. One section is dedicated to architectural elements. Wood is featured: friezes, panels, lintels and other corbels from different dynasties display Moroccan craftsmanship. Besides their artistic value, some pieces are historical and archaeological treasures, such as the beam dating from AD 877, the oldest wood in Islamic Morocco, evidence of the city of Kairouan’s artistic influences.  \n  \nZelliges (handmade terracotta tiles) are a distinctive feature of Moroccan-Andalusian Islamic architecture, with excellent collections here in the Batha Museum, with some dating back to the 14th century.  \n  \nAlso on exhibit are traditional arts from Fez, whose richness and variety are manifested in a collection of delicate embroidery in a single thread colour, and a variety of ornaments and wedding dresses for brides typically from the cities. There is also a rich collection of tin-based ceramics enamelled in a monochrome blue-grey.  \n  \nVisitors can discover rural crafts and museum-quality objects like jewellery and pottery outside the city of Fez.","city":"Fès","address":"Ksar El Batha  \nPlace du 11 janvier  \nFès, Morocco","phone":"+212 53 563 41 16"},"e0396062-330b-5c15-8ec4-2f6f68e8b2c0":{"name":"Aga Khan Museum","description":"The Aga Khan Museum presents and collects art from historically significant Muslim civilizations as well as contemporary Muslim communities and diasporas around the world.  \n  \nThe Aga Khan Museum has three primary exhibition spaces. On the first floor, the Collections Gallery and Bellerive Room are dedicated to showcasing the Museum’s Permanent Collection. In the Collections Gallery, visitors can enjoy rotating displays of nearly 200 masterpieces reflecting a broad range of artistic styles and representing more than ten centuries of human history. In the Bellerive Room, visitors are invited to explore selections from the impressive ceramic collection of the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and Princess Catherine Aga Khan.  \n  \nThe core of its Permanent Collection — spanning a vast geographic area from Spain and North Africa in the west, across the Middle East, to South Asia and China in the east — was assembled by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003), uncle of His Highness, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV. Prince Sadruddin began acquiring works of art in the 1950s while studying at Harvard University. Together with his wife, Princess Catherine Aga Khan, he continued to collect throughout his lifetime. His Highness the Aga Khan and his family have supported and expanded Prince Sadruddin’s collection since his death. Today, it represents the foundation of North America’s first museum dedicated exclusively to Islamic arts, where it is enhanced by superb objects from the private collections of Prince Amyn and His Highness the Aga Khan as well as new acquisitions, special exhibitions, and a rich roster of performances and public programs.  \n  \nOn the second floor, the Aga Khan Museum presents several special exhibitions each year that feature works from the Museum alongside art from partner museums and installations by contemporary artists. These displays are complemented by performing arts programs, lectures, and workshops.","city":"Toronto","address":"77 Wynford Drive,  \nToronto, ON  \nCanada","website":"https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/"},"e4a45e50-1dd1-5680-88c5-cd761132d6ed":{"name":"Regional Gallery of Sicily - Abatellis Palace","description":"The Regional Gallery of Sicily showcases the evolution of the figurative arts within Palermo and Western Sicily from the 12th to 18th centuries. The palace that houses the museum was built in 1495 as the residence of Francesco Abatellis, Master of Sicily’s ports, and stands as an important representative of Gothic-Catalan architecture within the region. After the death of Abatellis, part of the building adjoining the palace was converted in 1527 into a convent for the Benedictine Nuns of the church of Santa Maria della Pietà. This was then later turned into a Dominican Monastery. During the Second World War, the palace sustained considerable bombing damage in 1943, leading to initiatives for its complete restoration. The museum was finally opened to the public on the 23rd of June 1954.  \n  \nThe present layout of the museum is the result of collaborative efforts between the curator Giorgio Vigni and the Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa throughout the years 1953-54.  \n  \nThe permanent museum exhibition is divided into two sections; sculpture is located on the ground floor whilst paintings are located on the upper floor.  \n  \nThe Gallery's collections come from acquisitions, donations and confiscations of property belonging to suppressed religious organisations. Before being grouped together in the current headquarters, these works were part of the Royal University Pinacoteca, then collections of the National Museum of Palermo. The works of Islamic art preserved in the Gallery come mainly from the city of Palermo where they were recovered during restoration works and architectural restructuring of the most important Arab-Norman sites. These include the Norman Palace (later the Royal Palace), the church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio called the Martorana, the church of San Giacomo la Mazzara (which no longer exists) and the Casa Maturano, a building adjacent to the church of Martorana. Other objects, particularly wood and ceramics, were purchased mainly from the Egyptian antiquities market by the then director of the Royal Museum, Antonio Salinas, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.","city":"Palermo","address":"Via Alloro, 4  \n90133  \nPalermo, Italy","website":"http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/palazzoabatellis/","phone":"+39 091 6230011","email":"gall.abatellis@regione.sicilia.it"},"eb85e872-a703-5108-9494-d79d8afc80b8":{"name":"Austrian National Library","description":"**Austrian National Library**  \n  \nThe Austrian National Library is the home of one of the most important collections of manuscripts and rare prints in the world. Founded as the Habsburg court library in Vienna in the 16th century, it today houses various collections and museums ranging from papyri to modern Austrian literature.  \n  \nThe oldest surviving library catalogue, dated to 1576, already mentions Oriental manuscripts. In the early 17th century, their number increased thanks to the efforts of Sebastian Tengnagel (1603-1636), the library’s second prefect. He was a scholar of Oriental languages as well as an avid book collector, who bequeathed his collection to the court library. In the 19th century and especially during Moritz Graf Dietrichstein’s time as library prefect (1826-1845) the Oriental the collection started to grow again. A large number of manuscripts was acquired from the famous orientalist Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall. Other books found their way to Vienna through the hands of scholars and explorers like Eduard Glaser, who brought back 250 manuscripts from his expeditions to South Arabia (mainly modern day Yemen). Finally, in 2011, Franz and Edelgard Loibl donated their collection of manuscripts and prints, among them many oriental manuscripts, to the Austrian National Library.  \n  \n**Holdings**  \n  \nToday, there are around 3000 manuscripts in Arabic script in the library’s holdings: 1400 in Arabic, 1300 in Turkish and 300 in Persian.  \n  \nThere are five groups of shelf marks:  \n  \n• Cod. A. F.: Alter Fond, collection before the 19th century  \n• Cod. N. F.: Neuer Fond, collection Hammer-Purgstall  \n• Cod. H. O.: Historica Osmanica, Turkish history  \n• Cod. Mixt.: Codices mixti, newer acquisitions in Arabic script and different languages  \n• Cod. Gl.: Glaser Collection  \n  \n**Catalogues**  \n  \nAll manuscripts within Cod. A. F., Cod. N. F, Cod. H. O and Cod. Mixt. up to Cod. Mixt. 740 were catalogued by Gustav Flügel between 1865 and 1867:  \n  \nGustav Flügel, Die arabischen, persischen und türkischen Handschriften der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hofbibliothek zu Wien (1865-1867) Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 (with index).  \n  \nFor new acquisitions 1868-1968 in Arabic see:  \n  \nHelene Loebenstein, Katalog der arabischen Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek: Neuerwerbungen 1868-1968 1: Codices mixti ab Nr 744. (Museion N.F. 4, Bd. 3, Neuerwerbungen 1868-1968 T. 1, Wien 1970) online  \n  \nFor new acquisitions 1864-1997 in Turkish see:  \n  \nSmail Balić, Katalog der türkischen Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek : Neuerwerbungen 1864-1994 : mit einem Anhang: Bosnische Aljamiado-Handschriften (Ankara 2006)  \n  \nFor new acquisitions 1868-1994 in Persian see:  \n  \nAfšār Īraǧ, Fihrist-i dast-niwīshā-i fārsi dar kitābẖāna-i millī-i Utrīš wa āršīw-i dawlatī-i Utrīš dar Wiyan. Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the Austrian National Library and in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna (Teheran-Wien 2003)  \n  \nLater acquisition are mainly catalogued online: www.onb.ac.at  \n  \nFor illuminated Oriental manuscripts see the catalogues by Dorothea Duda  \n  \nDorothea Duda, Islamische Handschriften 1: Persische Handschriften (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters. Reihe I, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek Band 4/ Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Denkschriften 167, Wien 1983)  \n  \nDorothea Duda, Islamische Handschriften 2, Teil 1: Die Handschriften in arabischer Sprache (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters. Reihe I, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek Band 5, Teil 1 / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 229, Wien 1992)  \n  \nDorothea Duda, Islamische Handschriften 2, Teil 2: Die Handschriften in türkischer Sprache (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters. Reihe I, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek Band 5, Teil 2 / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 363, Wien 2008)","city":"Vienna","address":"Josefsplatz, 1  \n1015 Wien  \nAustria","website":"www.onb.ac.at","phone":"+43 1 534 10 0","email":"onb@onb.ac.at"},"edb8cc68-6a7b-575f-9541-6421a991bf33":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Hama Museum**  \nHama, Syria"},"ee0a71f8-dc12-5d5d-b02a-4402969e8274":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art","description":"The Museum of Islamic Arts of Kairouan is located in Raqqada, in a former presidential palace that was converted into a cultural and educational centre in 1986. It contains four rooms on the main floor and upstairs.  \n  \nOn the ground floor are:  \n– The ceramics room, which houses objects dating back to the Aghlabid, Fatimid and Hafsid eras. Those of the Aghlabid era are characterised by the use of metallic lustre glazes, archaic Kufic script and stylised zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images. This room displays a collection of blue Iznik ceramic tiles from Anatolia.  \n  \n– The hall of the Great Mosque, which houses religious objects such as friezes with floral and epigraphic motifs that form part of the roofing. There is also a reconstruction of the *mihrab* from the mosque and the door of the *maqsoura* (private enclosure).  \n  \n– The Lapidary Inscriptions Room, which is under development, will house flat, prismatic and column-barrel gravestones from the Kairouan Cemetery. It will also contain the inscription of the foundation of the city of Sabra al-Mansouriya, characterised by its writing style and its imposing size.  \n  \n\\- The Sabra al-Mansouriya Hall, expected to receive objects from the Sabra excavation, now contains the casting furnace found on the same site.  \n  \nUpstairs:  \nThe glass cases of the coin and jewellery room hold a large collection of coins dating back to the Aghlabid, Fatimid, Hafsid and Ottoman eras, showing their evolution over time. This room also contains glass objects from the Sabra site and the lantern from al-Mouiz.  \n  \nThe manuscript room contains a rich collection of parchment Qur’an folios from the library of the Great Mosque of Kairouan displaying the evolution of writing and ornamentation styles (3rd / 9th to the 13th / 19th century). The collection owes its unique reputation to the famous “blue parchment” of the 4th / 10th century. Enclosing these folios are leather bindings embossed with floral and geometric designs.  \n  \nAn exhibition such as this one helps us interpret the history of the city of Kairouan. The newer Sabra Hall, the Hall of Lapidary Inscriptions and the Hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan will further our understanding.","city":"Kairouan","address":"Musée des arts islamiques  \nKairouan-Raqqada","phone":"+216 77 228126"},"f0448341-50fd-5737-bf32-5fe7fdf30a77":{"name":"Museum of Jordanian Heritage","description":"This museum is located in the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at Yarmouk University; it was founded in 1984 and officially opened in 1988.  \n  \nThe main gallery consists of four rooms: the first room (Hunting and Gathering) deals with Jordan’s prehistory; the second (City State) focuses on the Bronze Ages, illustrated through graphics and drawings; the third room (East and West) deals with the history of material culture in the Hellenic, Roman and Byzantine periods; and the fourth room concentrates on Jordan in the Islamic periods. The second floor has special topics related to the history of technology, rural life and folklore. A new gallery of numismatics was added to the museum in 2002.","city":"Irbid","address":"Irbid, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 7211111-4465"},"f0c1b6b9-8198-5a97-9aea-8ebedfa90ca3":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art","description":"At the order of Khedive Ismail Pasha in 1880 the collection of archaeological rarities from the Islamic era was begun in the mosque of Al- Hakim. The Council for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities, created in 1881 in association with the Ministry of Awqaf, supervised the House of Arab Antiquities, as it was then known, until 1930 when the museum was taken into the Ministry of Education.  \n  \nThe museum acquired only from mosques and public buildings in its first 20 years. Then it undertook its first excavation in 1910 in the vicinity of Doronka in Upper Egypt and a second excavation south of Cairo uncovering a section of the city of Fustat (first Islamic capital of Egypt).  \n  \nThe museum acquired many items through donations. King Fu’ad I gave a valuable collection of textiles, scales and seals as did King Farouk, Amir Muhammad Ali and Amir Yusuf Kamal. Amir Kamal al-Din Hussein, Yakub Artin Pasha and Ali Ibrahim Pasha also donated complete collections.  \n  \nThe collections, amounting to 7082 artefacts, were transferred to their current building, when the present museum was inaugurated in December 1903. In 1952, the name of the museum was changed to the ‘Museum of Islamic Art’ to reflect the scope of the collection: objects produced in the Islamic world and dating from the beginning of the Islamic era (AD 7th century) to the end of the AD 19th century. The number of recorded objects has now reached 103,000.  \n  \nThe collections include enamelled glass lamps, Egyptian ceramics and a rare collection of filigree waterpot filters of unpainted earthenware renowned for their lacework designs. There are also collections of woodwork, textiles and stones with inscriptions, while the collection of carpets is considered to be one of the greatest of its kind. Collections of scientific instruments display the extent to which Islamic civilisation has contributed to knowledge in many different fields. There is also an extraordinary collection of seals, weights, measures, gold, silver and copper coins.  \n  \nThe Museum of Islamic Art, having one of the most comprehensive and complete Islamic art collections in the world continues to develop and expand its collections and to modernise the building with its 25 halls, facilities and archaeological garden.","city":"Cairo","website":"https://www.miaegypt.org/","phone":"+20 2 2390 1520"},"f6a3053d-d710-547e-be54-96097d448f7a":{"name":"National Museum of Damascus","description":"The National Museum in Damascus was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Education in 1919. The original core of this museum's contents was initially kept at the Madrasa al-'Adiliya. The collection gradually increased and the discovery of the Umayyad palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi in the Syrian desert in 1936 further spurred into action plans for a newer and bigger museum. A building located next to Al-Takiyya al-Sulaymaniya was chosen for the establishment of the National Museum of Damascus.  \n  \nQasr Al-Hayr Al-Gharbi added new emphasis to the importance of devoting more attention to the Islamic period and the Directors of Antiquities decided to incorporate these palatial finds into the National Museum of Damascus. After much hard work and technical expertise, the front façade of the Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi was transposed and carefully reconstructed as the National Museum's main entrance. The side halls and the second floor were designated for the most important artistic finds of this early Islamic palace. The completion of the display took several years and the official opening was celebrated in 1950.  \n  \nIn 1953 a three-storey wing was added to house and display ancient oriental antiquities, the Islamic period, modern Syrian art, and temporary exhibitions.  \n  \nOne of the more recent extensions included three double halls for the Islamic period, a new lecture hall and a library. The lecture hall was furnished as a 19th-century Damascene reception hall, a masterpiece of late decoration and ornamentation in its own right. The opening of this extension took place in 1963.  \n  \nIn 1974 there were further additions, this time devoted to the Palaeolithic period. And lastly, in 2004, the temporary exhibition wing was transformed into a permanent collection of Neolithic antiquities.  \n  \nAt present, the National Museum of Damascus consists of the following sections:  \n  \n1\\. Palaeolithic.  \n2\\. Neolithic.  \n3\\. Ancient Syrian Oriental.  \n4\\. Classical.  \n5\\. Islamic.  \n6\\. Modern Arts.","city":"Damascus","address":"Qasr el-Heir Street  \nDamascus, Syria","phone":"+963 11 2234331","email":"sam.orient@mail.sy"},"fa4acaf4-e4a9-5f92-8877-0946904fdbd3":{"name":"Silves Archaeological Museum","description":"Brief History  \n  \nInaugurated in 1990, the Silves Museum was built around the magnificent 12th-13th century Almohad well-cistern, which was discovered through archaeological excavations in the 1980s. The site is currently classified as a national monument and is the centrepiece of the Silves Museum’s permanent exhibition. The museum space also integrates the Almohad era city wall, making it not only a museum that exhibits a significant historical collection, but also a rare jewel of present day Portuguese Islamic heritage.  \n  \nSince its inauguration the museum has left its permanent collection, consisting of around 800 mostly ceramic objects, open to public viewing. The museum also contains a plethora of objects in reserve which were acquired through several archaeological excavations conducted throughout Portugal.  \n  \nCollection  \n  \nChronologically divided into five sections, the museum includes a collection of Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman era objects. Its collections are distinguished not just by the quantity but also by their exceptional quality and includes objects from the medieval Islamic periods. These constitute objects from the Umayyad Caliphate, the Taifa era, the Almoravid and the later Almohad dynasties, representing a long period of Islamic rule that ranged from the 8th to the 13th centuries CE. Due to the nature of the site, there is a strong representation of objects from the Almohad period between the 12th and 13th centuries, which attest to the richness and importance of Silves during this historic period.  \n  \nThe museum’s collection also exhibits a range of comparatively modern objects, from the 15th to the 17th centuries, which attest to the influential and complex network of trade routes between the city of Silves and other significant ports of the time.  \n  \nPublic Outreach  \n  \nThe museum has been developing a programme of temporary exhibitions from its own funds as a means to not only showcase certain presentations, but also strengthen cultural relations with countries that were historically linked to the municipality of Silves. Among these include projects with the Kingdom of Morocco.  \n  \nThe museum’s educational department plays a key role in the attraction and retention of the public awareness. This is done through prioritising communication with young audiences and providing them with tools that help interpret the museum’s archaeological collection.  \n  \nIt is through this approach that the pedagogic workshops were formed which, with the help of local artisans, offer a range of activities that help raise awareness towards the historic material culture showcased in the museum. These include pottery, ceramics, weaving and calligraphy. For other audiences who wish to experience a wider variety of themes, there are workshops centred on the local environment, heritage, playhouses, the sciences as well as tours that complement temporary exhibitions. Lastly, to stimulate further interest and promote the study of the collection, the museum has developed projects and activities with other international networks that have similar interests.","city":"Silves","address":"Rua Porta de Loulé, n. 14  \n8300-129  \nSilves, Portugal","website":"https://www.cm-silves.pt/pt/menu/547/museu-municipal-de-arqueologia-de-silves.aspx","phone":"+351 282 444 832","email":"museu.municipal@cm-silves.pt"},"fea32901-ad4a-5972-8043-fd04f11ab0ee":{"name":"Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia","description":"Interest in Islamic art has grown enormously in recent years. Reflecting this awareness, in December 1998 Malaysia became home to Southeast Asia’s largest museum of Islamic art. The building occupies 30,000 square metres, situated amid the leafy surroundings of central Kuala Lumpur’s Lake Gardens.  \n  \nThe Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia houses more than ten thousand artefacts, as well as an exceptional library of Islamic art books. The art objects on display range from the tiniest pieces of jewellery to one of the world’s largest scale models of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. The aim is to create a collection that is truly representative of the Islamic world. Instead of concentrating on works from the heartlands of Persia and the Middle East, IAMM also puts the emphasis on Asia. China and Southeast Asia are especially well represented. The third component of the Malaysian melting pot is India, which is also given special status. India, China and the Malay World are in an exceptional category. Other parts of the collection are displayed according to type rather than geographical origins in the museum’s 12 galleries.  \n  \nIranian tile workers transformed the iwan-style entrance into a ceramic tapestry that frames a welcoming verse from the Qur’an. On the roof, these artisans turned the dome-construction traditions of Central Asia into the building’s crowning glory. The turquoise-coloured domes are now a landmark on the Kuala Lumpur skyline.  \n  \nInside the building, the angularity of 21st century design is contrasted with the soft, rounded forms of the five domes that dominate the museum’s interior. Laboured over by craftsmen from Uzbekistan, these imposing features help form an ambience that is both airy and harmony. The seamless continuity of light and space is maintained throughout the galleries and into other areas of the museum, such as the library and the restaurant.","city":"Kuala Lumpur","address":"Jalan Lembah Perdana  \n50480 Kuala Lumpur  \nMalaysia","website":"http://www.iamm.org.my","phone":"+603 20927070; +603 22742020","email":"info@iamm.org.my"}}
+{"01ed0e00-4aed-5afc-bdea-937514669d4b":{"name":"Victoria and Albert Museum","description":"The Victoria and Albert (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. When the museum opened to the public in 1852, its mission was to reform design by making works of art available to all, improving the public’s understanding of the subject and providing inspiration for designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A’s collections span over 5,000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world.  \n  \nThe V&A comprises a family of sites, including the V&A in South Kensington, Young V&A located in Bethnal Green, V&A Dundee in Scotland, the V&A Wedgwood Collection housed in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, V&A Gallery at Design Society in Shekou, China, and opening in 2024/25 will be V&A East located within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford. Across these sites the museum showcases their collections to a wide range of audiences and aims to champion design and creativity in all its forms.  \n  \nThe V&A has specialised in collecting art and design from the Islamic world since the 1850s, and it was the first institution in the world to collect Islamic art in a systematic fashion. The museum's founders believed that Islamic ideas about structuring patterns and matching decoration to shape and function could improve British design. The collection grew to become the most significant in its field. Outstanding works include the AH 10th / AD 16th-century Ardabil carpet from Iran, a rock crystal ewer from AH 5th / AD 11th-century Egypt, and the world’s greatest collections of Islamic ceramics. The museum also houses the national collection of Islamic textiles.","city":"London","address":"Cromwell Road  \nSouth Kensington  \nSW7 2RL  \nLondon  \nUnited Kingdom","website":"http://www.vam.ac.uk","phone":"+44 207 9422000","fax":"+44 207 9422335"},"08da2b05-a4ee-59f0-8585-a9431321460e":{"name":"Larache Archaeological Museum","description":"Kindly note that the Larache Archaeological Museum has been closed and all its artefacts have been moved to:  \n  \nCasbah Museum (Tangier)  \nAl-Kasbah, Tangier  \nConservator: Abdelaziz El Idrissi  \nT: +212 539 932 097  \nM: +212 (0) 675 271 922  \n  \nThe following is an older article referring to the when the Larache Archaeological Museum was operational.  \n  \nLocated on Dar el-Makhzen Square near the old city wall, Borj al-Yahoudi was renovated in 1978 as a museum of the city of Larache. The museum exhibits only archaeological objects excavated from the Lixus site, about four kilometres from the Loukkos River harbour.  \n  \nThe first section displays the pieces chronologically; a second room, on the ground floor, is arranged in order of category: religious life, mythology, architecture, jewellery and ceramics.  \n  \nThe chronology is as follows:  \n  \n**The Phoenician Period**  \nAlthough archaeological data from the period is scarce, the museum’s collection (a sphinx, ostrich eggs, jewellery – including the famous gold earring of the goddess Tanit) is evidence of the existence of commercial trade at the port of Lixus.  \n  \n**The Punic Period**  \nAmphorae, imported ceramics and common pottery show the engagement of Lixus in the major Mediterranean trading routes.  \n  \n**The Mauritanian Period**  \nThe collections of amphorae, perfume containers, imported ceramics and copies of bronze works date to this era of intense commercial activity and urban expansion.  \n  \n**The Roman Period**  \nRoman-era archaeological objects occupy a vast area and reveal the flourishing of Lixus under Roman colonisation, from the reign of Claude (AD 1st century) until the Romans abandoned the city (AD 5th century). Included are ceramic utensils imported from Italy, Spain and southern Gaul, amphorae, statuettes, mosaic fragments, bronze furniture, architectural elements – including a Pompeian-style mural.  \n  \n**The Islamic Period**  \nAlthough medieval objects are rare, the Islamic occupation of the site has been confirmed by the discovery of architectural elements, by everyday Almohad and Almoravid ceramics, and especially by *cuerda seca* (dry cord) ceramics, including a celebrated drinking vase. Similar examples have been found in Murcia and Siyasa, Shaltish and Huelva in Andalusia.","city":"Larache","address":"Délégation du Ministère de la Culture  \nLarache, Morocco","phone":"+212 539 912 092"},"113e7cf6-f7c2-53aa-9442-5229ced56c72":{"name":"Museum Rietberg","description":"The Museum Rietberg is one of the largest art museums in Switzerland and is administered by the City of Zurich. With a focus on traditional and contemporary arts and cultures of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania, it has some 23,000 objects and 37,000 ethnographic photographs in its collection. Most of the objects are on public display, either in the museum’s galleries or in its open storeroom.  \n  \nIn 1945, the City of Zurich bought the 67,000 square metres of the Rieterpark and the Villa Wesendonck. Then in 1949, the people of Zurich approved the plan to convert the Villa Wesendonck into a museum and to establish, at the same time, the Museum Rietberg. In 1952, the new museum finally opened its doors to the public. The complex consists of three nineteenth-century villas and a coach house, not to mention a recent underground extension opened in 2007.  \n  \nThe work of the Museum Rietberg is characterised by a high degree of professionalism, social inclusion, and diversity. The Museum aims to heighten awareness of the artistic achievements of individuals alongside those brought about by religious and social diversity. In so doing, it fulfils an important cultural mission in our increasingly globalised world.  \n  \nFurthermore, the Museum’s first-rate collection of international renown requires expert care, continuous academic study, including provenance research, while being actively expanded and managed. The institution ensures the transparency of the results of its research by making them largely available online.  \n  \nThe Museum Rietberg possesses both local and international connections with cultural institutions, collectors, and specialists in a variety of fields. It pursues a policy of long-term cooperation with countries of origin including Cameroon, India, Pakistan, and Peru.","city":"Zurich","address":"Gablerstrasse 15  \n8002 Zurich","website":"http://www.rietberg.ch","phone":"+41 44 415 31 31","email":"museum.rietberg@zuerich.ch"},"1232b5a2-7af1-5de4-a332-ff444943f8b0":{"name":"MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art","description":"The MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art – is one of the foremost museums of its kind in the world. The building located on Stubenring in the 1st district of Vienna was founded in 1863 as the k.k. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry) and today houses a unique collection of applied arts, design, architecture and contemporary art.  \n  \nThe MAK collection encompasses European and international decorative arts ranging from the Early Middle Ages to the present. The museum's main holdings include textiles, ceramics, glass, furniture and metalwork as well as exquisite objects of the Wiener Werkstätte (craftworks) and Art Nouveau. Its collection of Oriental carpets and East Asian art are of the highest international significance.  \n  \nAmong the objects from the Islamic world, the collection of Oriental carpets is pre-eminent, and the museum holds the largest collection worldwide of paintings of the *Hamzanama* from the era of the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. Important examples of the applied arts are preserved in the MAK Asia Collection, which most notably include objects from Iran and the Ottoman Empire.","city":"Vienna","address":"Stubenring, 5  \nA-1010 Vienna  \nAustria","website":"http://www.mak.at","phone":"+43 1 711 36-248","email":"office@MAK.at"},"19c6017a-4b0e-5530-b7ac-c09f8a4bf54d":{"name":"Calouste Gulbenkian Museum","description":"Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was born in Scutari in 1869 into a family of Armenian origin. A pioneer of the oil industry and an exceptionally discerning and knowledgeable collector, he came to Portugal in 1942 as the Second World War raged in Europe. Gulbenkian spent the remaining years of his life in Lisbon and died here in 1955.  \n  \nIn 1956 the Foundation which takes his name was created, fulfilling his wish that the works of art that he had assembled over four decades as a collector should be kept together under one roof.  \n  \nThis desire was fulfilled in 1969 with the inauguration of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. The museum’s collection numbers some 6000 pieces. The breadth of the collection reflects Gulbenkian’s own preferences and the personal tastes which always guided him. It covers various periods of the history of art, from classical and oriental Antiquity to European art of the early twentieth century.  \n  \nThe Calouste Gulbenkian Museum is set in the Parque Santa Gertrudes and is a landmark in museum architecture in Portugal. With numerous openings to the exterior, it offers visitors a continuous dialogue between Nature and Art.  \n  \nThe permanent exhibition galleries are on the first floor of the building and distributed around two patios. Each gallery is linked with its successor according to a chronological and geographical system of classification which results in two independent itineraries within the general circuit of the museum.  \n  \nGulbenkian was especially interested in oriental art (perhaps because of his own origins) and the collection’s numerous ceramics, carpets, tapestries, illuminations, book bindings and mosque lamps from the East are an illustration of this interest. These exhibits trace the various artistic tendencies of Persia, Turkey, Syria, the Caucasus, Armenia and India from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, and are on display in the Islamic Orient gallery.","city":"Lisbon","address":"Av. Berna, 45 A  \n1067-001 Lisbon, Portugal","website":"https://gulbenkian.pt/","phone":"+351 217 823 000","fax":"+351 217 823 032","email":"museu@gulbenkian.pt"},"1d0ff55d-dcd7-59a9-b95d-18903aa4ab05":{"name":"Benaki Museum","description":"The Benaki Museum is the largest and oldest museum in Greece operating as a foundation under private law. It was founded 1930 by Antonis Benakis, a member of a leading Greek family of Alexandria. The current museum is decentralised: its hub is the neoclassical mansion presenting the evolution of Greek culture from the Paleolithic period to the present day. The autonomous buildings include the exhibition centre on Pireos 138, the Toy Museum on the Athens seafront, the Ghika Gallery and the Museum of Islamic Art.  \n  \nThe Museum of Islamic Art is a renovated neoclassical building in Athens’ historic centre near the ancient Agora. It opened in 2004 to house the collection formed by Antonis Benakis during the early part of the 20th century, while he was living in Egypt. Subsequently enriched by other donations, today it contains c. 10,000 objects from the Middle East, Iran, Turkey, North Africa and India. It demonstrates the evolution of Islamic art up to the 19th century and corresponding developments to the middle of the 20th century. The collection includes ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, textiles, woodwork, glassware, ivories, funerary steles and arms and armour.  \n  \nThe visitor first finds exhibits from the 7th to the 12th century. Highlights are lustreware, door panels from Iraq, Fatimid metalwork, tiraz textiles and a unique reed mat from 10th-century Tiberias. Then follow objects from the 12th to the 16th century with Seljuq ceramics, Mamluk metalwork and pottery and highlights a brass box with the signature of Isma’il ibn al-Ward al-Mawsili dated 1220 and the astrolabe of Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj dated 1328/29.  \n  \nAnother gallery displays a marble-lined reception room from a 17th-century mansion in Cairo, together with its fountain, qamariyya windows and a mashrabiyya screen. Other noteworthy exhibits are the collection of Iznik pottery and a 16th-century velvet saddle from Bursa. The display concludes with arms and armour and an important collection of Qajar jewellery that was collected by Argine Salvagos, sister of the founder.  \n  \nDuring preservation work, a large section of the ancient city wall of Athens from the 4th century BC was uncovered and remains in situ at basement level, accessible to visitors.","city":"Athens","address":"22 Agion Asomaton & 12 Dipilou Street  \n10674 Athens","website":"http://www.benaki.gr/","phone":"+30 210 325 1311","fax":"+30 210 322 5550","email":"islamic_collection@benaki.gr"},"1dc4a129-85b0-57d5-9622-15c790c4333f":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"Zisa Museum  \nAddress: Piazza Zisa, 1  \n90100 - Palermo  \nTel: +39 091 65 20 269  \n  \nCappella Palatina  \nAddress: P.zza del Risorgimento  \n90100 Palermo  \nTel: +39 091 6961111","city":"Palermo"},"2300bb0e-fc9f-55c5-ae2e-20f619a46cce":{"name":"Weltmuseum Wien","description":"The Weltmuseum Wien – formerly the Museum of Ethnology – houses comprehensive collections of ethnographic objects, historical photographs, and books on non-European civilisations, making it one of the world’s leading ethnographic museums. Its roots can be traced back to 1806, when the \"Imperial and Royal Ethnographic Collection\" was established as part of the combined Imperial and Royal Court Cabinet of Natural Objects, following the partial acquisition of the \"Cook Collection\" at a London auction. The continuously growing collections were transferred to the newly created “Department of Anthropology and Ethnography” of the Royal Court Museum of Natural History in 1876. Limited space and a goal of developing ethnology as a cultural science convinced political decision-makers to establish a unified, cohesive Museum of Ethnology. The “Museum of Ethnology” opened formally in 1928 taking up the entire building of the “Corps de Logis” in Neue Burg.  \n  \nIn 2001 the Museum of Ethnology was incorporated into the KHM-Museum Association. In April 2013 the Museum of Ethnology became the \"Weltmuseum Wien\" – a site of world cultures – at Vienna’s Heldenplatz. In October 2017, after extensive reparation and modernisation of the historical building, the Museum reopened in its entirety with 14 completely revised permanent exhibition galleries. The Museum’s collection, meanwhile, has expanded to well over 200,000 inventory numbers.","city":"Vienna","address":"Heldenplatz  \n1010 Vienna","website":"http://www.weltmuseumwien.at","phone":"+43 1 534 30-5052","email":"info@weltmuseumwien.at"},"236add0a-18d4-55b1-88dd-71cad26804b1":{"name":"Archaeological Area and Museum of Mertola","description":"Located on the banks of the river Guadiana, the village of Mértola was of exceptional economic importance throughout the history of Iberia, right up until the period of its Christian Reconquest (1238 CE). This was due in large part to the vitality of its port which from the pre-Roman period onward traded in extracted metals from the nearby regions of Aljustrel and the mines of S. Domingos. The growing awareness of the city’s cultural richness owes largely to the heritage work done by the ‘Campo Arqueologico de Mértola’ (est. 1978) and the establishment of the Museum of Mértola on the back of finds from several excavations (est. 1982).  \n  \nThe Mértola Museum, with a geographical focus on the town and its municipality, has branched out to include archaeological sites representing several periods of history within its remit. These include a Roman house which was opened to the public in 1998, an early Christian basilica opened in 1993, as well as the church and necropolis of S. Sebastião which was inaugurated in 1999. Several other sites bring together important collections of archaeological materials, especially in the Castle Tower opened to the public in 1991 and the centre for Islamic Art which was opened in 2001. There is also an important collection of religious art with pieces dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries CE as well as ethnographic materials representative of traditional craftsmanship. These include a blacksmith’s forge and a weaving workshop where, at present, three weavers are in charge of preserving the centuries old tradition of Mértolan weaving.  \n  \nThe Mértola Museum contributes significantly to the study and knowledge of the Islamic period in Portugal. While its initial focus concentrated on archaeology, in time the museum opened up to other avenues in promoting the heritage and knowledge of Islamic Mértola. This effort is visible in the Islamic Museum which showcases in a time when the region was the capital of a Taifa kingdom throughout the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.  \n  \nThese consist of objects from the excavations of the Almohad neighbourhood as well as a reconstruction of one of the excavated houses uncovered. Other elements make it possible to establish a synthesis of the missing Mértola. The model of the central mosque reminds us of the original Aljama or central mosque and funerary steles refer indicate the Islamic cemetery or maqbara which is now the subject of renewed excavation.  \n  \nThe ceramics collected during the excavations also evoke daily life in Islamic Mértola with particular reference of those crafted in the ‘cuerda seca’ technique. All in all, the Mértola Museum not only preserves the heritage of the region but also provides important insight and a basis for research into the relationship between the town and several Western Mediterranean ports during the medieval period.  \n  \nThe Mértola Museum has been part of the Portuguese Museum Network since 2002.","city":"Mértola","address":"Morada – Praça Luís de Camões  \n7750-909 Mértola, Portugal","website":"http://www.camertola.pt/","phone":"+351 286 610 100","fax":"+351 286 610 101","email":"museus@cm-mertola.pt"},"2850ad3d-5837-53f2-9df3-168b86ffb478":{"name":"Museum of Civilisations | Museum of Oriental Art (EIAC)","description":"The ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ Museum of Oriental Art opened to the public in 1958 and houses finds from several Italian archaeological missions conducted in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. As well as this are numerous objects purchased on the antique market, particularly those by Giuseppe Tucci during his voyages in Nepal and Tibet between 1928 and 1954.  \n  \nThe museum’s Islamic wing includes a rich collection of objects sourced from both archaeological excavations and private purchases. The provenance of the collection is wide-ranging including the items from the geographical territories that now make up the countries of Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and India. Chronologically the material covers an extensive period from the 8th to 19th centuries CE. The collection is arranged along different classes of production including; ceramics, metal works, miniatures, manuscripts, numismatics, jewellery, textile art, glass, arms & armour and wood.  \n  \nOf particular importance is the collection of archaeological finds from the palace of the Ghaznavid Sultan, Mas’ud III (1099-1115 CE) in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The archaeology of the site and its associated finds was brought to light by excavations conducted by the Archaeological Mission of the IsMEO (Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente) in the 1960’s. These consist mainly of elements of architectural decorations in brick and marble, marble funerary stones, ceramics and metals.  \n  \nThe museum's collection of Persian objects can be dated from the 8th to the 19th centuries. Ceramics from the Samanid (9th- 10th century) and Seljuk (11th -12th century) periods are well represented in the Museum collections. Ilkhanid period ceramics (13th -14th century), known for their use of ‘lajvardina’ glaze technique is also visible in the collections. The majority of metal objects within the Islamic collection stem from the Khorasan region of Eastern Iran and Western Afghanistan, a well-known historic centre for metallurgical production.  \n  \n\\*\\*\\*  \n  \nSince September 2016, the National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome has merged into the new Museum of Civilisation, definitively closing in October 2017 for the transfer to its new headquarters in the Palazzo delle Scienze. While awaiting the definitive re-arrangement planned for the end of 2021, a temporary exhibition called “Open for Works” exhibits over 650 objects from the Oriental Museum (of which about 60 is considered Islamic Art) in the rooms of the Pigorini Museum.","city":"Rome","address":"Museo delle Civiltà | Museo d’arte orientale “Giuseppe Tucci”  \nPiazza Guglielmo Marconi, 14  \n00144 Rome, Italy","website":"https://www.museodellecivilta.it/","phone":"+39 06 549521","fax":"+39 06 54952310","email":"mu-civ@cultura.gov.it"},"2970af60-fdee-5b70-8e87-7b8865a0c88d":{"name":"Museum of Civilisations | Museum of Oriental Art","description":"The ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ Museum of Oriental Art opened to the public in 1958 and houses finds from several Italian archaeological missions conducted in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. As well as this are numerous objects purchased on the antique market, particularly those by Giuseppe Tucci during his voyages in Nepal and Tibet between 1928 and 1954.  \n  \nThe museum’s Islamic wing includes a rich collection of objects sourced from both archaeological excavations and private purchases. The provenance of the collection is wide-ranging including the items from the geographical territories that now make up the countries of Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and India. Chronologically the material covers an extensive period from the 8th to 19th centuries CE. The collection is arranged along different classes of production including; ceramics, metal works, miniatures, manuscripts, numismatics, jewellery, textile art, glass, arms & armour and wood.  \n  \nOf particular importance is the collection of archaeological finds from the palace of the Ghaznavid Sultan, Mas’ud III (1099-1115 CE) in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The archaeology of the site and its associated finds was brought to light by excavations conducted by the Archaeological Mission of the IsMEO (Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente) in the 1960’s. These consist mainly of elements of architectural decorations in brick and marble, marble funerary stones, ceramics and metals.  \n  \nThe museum's collection of Persian objects can be dated from the 8th to the 19th centuries. Ceramics from the Samanid (9th- 10th century) and Seljuk (11th -12th century) periods are well represented in the Museum collections. Ilkhanid period ceramics (13th -14th century), known for their use of ‘lajvardina’ glaze technique is also visible in the collections. The majority of metal objects within the Islamic collection stem from the Khorasan region of Eastern Iran and Western Afghanistan, a well-known historic centre for metallurgical production.  \n  \n\\*\\*\\*  \n  \nSince September 2016, the National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome has merged into the new Museum of Civilisation, definitively closing in October 2017 for the transfer to its new headquarters in the Palazzo delle Scienze. While awaiting the definitive re-arrangement planned for the end of 2021, a temporary exhibition called “Open for Works” exhibits over 650 objects from the Oriental Museum (of which about 60 is considered Islamic Art) in the rooms of the Pigorini Museum.","city":"Rome","address":"Museo delle Civiltà | Museo d’arte orientale “Giuseppe Tucci”  \nPiazza Guglielmo Marconi, 14  \n00144 Rome, Italy","website":"https://www.museodellecivilta.it/","phone":"+39 06 549521","fax":"+39 06 54952310","email":"mu-civ@cultura.gov.it"},"29d8d41a-b480-56bf-8b3d-e906281be54d":{"name":"Dar Si Said","description":"Dar Si Said is a large palatial residence built in the second half of the 19th century by Si Said Ben Moussa, who served as minister of war under the regency of his brother Ba Hmad.  \n  \nA living testimony to Moroccan art and domestic architecture of the 19th century, the monument presents architecture of grandeur and opulence.  \n  \nMost of the collections in this regional museum come from Marrakech and the southern regions of Morocco, particularly Tensift, Sous, High Atlas, Anti-Atlas, Bani and Tafilalet. These are related sets of woodwork, jewellery, vessels and ceramics, weapons, carpets and weavings, and some archaeological pieces, including a marble vat from the early 11th century.  \n  \nSince August 2002, the Dar Si Saïd Museum has been hosted an exceptional thematic exhibition focusing solely on wood: Wood – Art and Uses. Chosen from museums throughout the kingdom, the Dar Si Said Museum displays the best examples of wood art from the 12th century to today. In addition to their historical value (Almohad, Wattassid and Saadi pieces), the collections inform us about artisanal techniques (sculptures, engravings, carpentry, filming and painting) and decoration such as *tasstir* (geometric woodwork), and *mouqarnas* (ornamental vaults).  \n  \nThe exhibition is divided into four main areas:  \n– Liturgical furniture (first section on the ground floor) includes a *minbar*, rosaries and Qur’anic tablets.  \n– Architectural wood (second section on the ground floor) is represented by traditional pieces and elements of rural architecture: lintels, corbels, pedestals and doors.  \n– Domestic furnishings (upstairs) includes a wide range of furniture, chests, bridal goods, mirrors and cooking tools.  \n– Diverse objects (also upstairs) related to the various uses of wood in different fields. These are exhibited in the four rooms of the grand riad (traditional musical instruments and tools, antique weapons and objects for personal grooming).","city":"Marrakech","address":"Derb El Bahia, Riad  \nEl-Zaïtoun El-Jadid  \nMarrakech, Morocco","phone":"+212 524 389 564"},"2a23d23f-5624-56f3-828f-3db6b5689a95":{"name":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art","description":"The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in three iconic sites in New York City – The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.  \n  \nSince it was founded in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.  \n  \nThe Met Fifth Avenue  \n1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street)  \nNew York, NY 10028  \n+1 212 535 7710  \nSunday–Thursday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \nFriday and Saturday: 10:00am–9:00pm  \n  \nThe Met Breuer  \n945 Madison Avenue  \nNew York, NY 10021  \n+1 212 731 1675  \nClosed Monday  \nTuesday and Wednesday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \nThursday and Friday: 10:00am–9:00pm  \nSaturday and Sunday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \n  \nThe Met Cloisters  \n99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park  \nNew York, NY 10040  \n+1 212 923 3700  \nMarch–October: 10:00am–5:15pm  \nMay 27–September 2, 2016: Open late on Fridays until 7:30pm  \nNovember–February: 10:00am–4:45pm  \n  \nAll locations closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1. The Met Fifth Avenue closed the first Monday in May.","city":"New York","address":"The Met Fifth Avenue  \n1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street)  \nNew York, NY 10028  \nSunday–Thursday: 10:00am–5:30pm  \nFriday and Saturday: 10:00am–9:00pm","website":"http://www.metmuseum.org","phone":"+1 212 535 7710"},"325b7505-1527-5442-99ea-6a40f8c43d3f":{"name":"Islamic Museum at Al-Aqsa Mosque","description":"The museum was officially inaugurated in AH 1341 / AD 1922. In AH 1348 / AD 1929, it was transferred to its present site in the southwestern corner of the Haram al-Sharif. The museum is administered through the Department of Islamic Awqaf in Jerusalem, under the auspices of the Ministry of Jordanian Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places.  \n  \nThe museum comprises three buildings with an exhibition space of over 1,000 square m. The oldest hall is from the AH 6th / AD 12th century and is a rare Crusader monument in the holy city. The second hall was an Ayyubid mosque (AH 7th / AD 13th century) historically known as al-Malikiya mosque or the Jami’a al-Mughariba. The third hall is known as the *al-Fakhriya* corner and its history goes back to the Mamluk period (AH 8th / AD 14th century).  \n  \nThe collection consists of artefacts and remains from the Islamic and non-Islamic epochs, representing various facets of Islamic civilisation ranging in geography, theme and period. Most of the artefacts represent the heritage of al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem and Palestine at large including cities such as Hebron and Nablus.  \n  \nThe museum contains woodwork from different Islamic eras, the oldest dating to the Umayyad period. Metalwork in iron, copper and silver includes the iron enclosure from the Dome of the Rock, candlesticks, swords, daggers, daises, incense burners, coins, rings and memorial pieces. The collection includes marble and glazed tiles that panelled the the Dome of the Rock in the period of Sultan Sülayman the Magnificent (r. AH 926–74 / AD 1520–66) and his successors. There is a collection of earthenware, inscriptions on stone from different Islamic periods and its precursors, and columns and capitals from the Roman and Byzantine periods. There is a valuable collection of Qur’ans, the oldest from the AH 9th / AD 15 th century, and many Mamluk manuscripts whose themes deal with social and economic life in the holy city. The museum displays part of its textile collection, with costumes, grave coverings, pieces from the *kiswa* (covering) of the Ka’ba and pieces of carpet.","city":"Jerusalem","address":"Al-Haram al-Sharif  \nAmro  \nP.O. Box 75085  \nJerusalem","website":"http://www.facebook.com/islamic.museum1922/","phone":"02 6283286","fax":"02 6283286","email":"jerusalem.museum@gmail.com"},"33f89573-8b54-5c1a-86ba-1663e604740f":{"name":"Jordan Archaeological Museum","description":"The museum was founded in 1951 by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan on the Citadel of Amman on a hill called Jabal al-Qal’a. The building has a total measurement of 525 m2 on two floors. The ground floor is used for storage, and the first floor comprises the display area, which consists of three exhibition halls, and administrative offices.  \n  \nThe museum holds many artefacts found in various archaeological sites in Jordan representing the path of civilization in this area throughout its long history. The extensive collection is arranged chronologically by historical periods, from the Stone Ages to the Islamic periods.  \n  \nThe Islamic art collection is displayed in an exhibition hall in eleven showcases that consist of: pottery vessels from the Umayyad period to the Mamluk period; glazed vessels from the Mamluk period to the Ottoman period; steatite vessels from the Umayyad period; coins of all types and periods; metalwork and pottery vessels from the Umayyad to Mamluk periods; iron shields and swords from the Mamluk period; carved stones from the Umayyad period; four plaster replicas of architectural elements from Khirbat al-Mafjar Palace in Jericho (windows, lintel and a dome from the bath).  \n  \nLack of space prohibits the display of temporary exhibitions; however, the museum participates in many local and international exhibitions held in Jordan and abroad to show the history and archaeology of Jordan throughout the ages.  \n  \nThree curators sharing the responsibility of looking after the whole collection of the museum.","city":"Amman","address":"Citadel of Amman  \nP.O. Box 88  \nAmman, Jordan","phone":"+962 6 463 8795","fax":"+962 6 461 9768"},"36670bdc-150b-5f89-8906-79b8e4e2518d":{"name":"The David Collection","description":"The David Collection was founded by C. L. David (1878-1960), a prominent Danish attorney, who had begun to collect fine and decorative art in the 1910s. In this last field, he was aided by directors of the Danish Museum of Art and Design, who gradually also guided him to another area that had previously attracted little interest in Denmark: Islamic art. The Islamic part of David’s collection was, however, still rather modest at the time of his death in 1960.  \n  \nA bachelor and childless, C. L. David left his Copenhagen townhouse and works of art to a private foundation, along with financial means that made it possible to expand his collections. From the 1970s, a decision was consequently made to place increasing emphasis on expanding the Islamic holdings. The Islamic Collection has grown to become not only the museum’s most important, with over 4,000 objects, but also Scandinavia’s most significant in its field.  \n  \nThe Islamic Collection has been built up in keeping with the classical pattern for Western collections of this kind. It embodies works of art from Spain in the west to India in the east, but not works from Sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia. Chronologically, the collection ranges from works dating to shortly after the advent of Islam to the middle of the 19th century. The collection encompasses all types of materials, but since the small rooms of 19th-century buildings like C. L. David’s townhouse, now the museum’s home, make it impossible to exhibit large objects, the museum consequently has only a modest collection of carpets, and they are either of small size or fragments of larger carpets.  \n  \nFollowing the museum’s refurbishment and reinstallation of its collections in 2009, the David Collection is now divided into three parts: European 18th-Century Art, Danish Early Modern Art, and Islamic Art. The collection of Islamic Art is presented in a new, contemporary setting, enhanced by digital and other modern techniques used to elucidate the objects on display. The backbone of the collection is 20 chronological/geographical sections, but the display also contains special galleries for light-sensitive materials as well as others dedicated to themes such as cultural history and artistic techniques.","city":"Copenhagen","address":"Kronprinsessegade, 30  \nCopenhagen  \nDenmark  \n  \nPostal address: Kronprinsessegade 30-32","website":"http://www.davidmus.dk/en","phone":"+45 33734949","fax":"+45 33734948","email":"museum@davidmus.dk"},"36dd7a00-ac4e-5317-9673-604bbb89af53":{"name":"Museum of Oriental Art (Fondazione Torino Musei)","description":"Turin’s new Museum of Oriental Art marks the culmination of various strands of interest in this field: the city boasts a long tradition of Oriental studies at the university – backed by the presence of a major centre for specialised research (CESMEO), while the past few years have seen a growing realisation of the need to create specific instruments to further our knowledge and understanding of distant cultural worlds. A museum that displays artistic creations from different cultures not only fulfils its own vocation as a repository for their conservation and exhibition, but above all prompts visitors to expand their own ethnocentric horizons.  \n  \nThese were some of the underlying grounds that led to the idea of creating a Museum of Oriental Art (MAO), in Turin based on the redefinition, renewal and expansion of the Oriental Section of the Civic Museum of Ancient Art.  \n  \nThe new museum, stands in one of the city’s most lively and fascinating areas, is housed in Palazzo Mazzonis, which was built between the 17th and the 18th century, known, which was formerly owned by the Marquis Solaro della Chiusa before being passed in 1870 to Chevalier Paolo Mazzonis, a textile magnate. After becoming the head office of the Manifattura Mazzonis, extensive improvements were carried out, especially on the first floor. The Mazzonis business failed in 1968 and the building remained unused. It was purchased by Turin City Council in 1980 and restored to house a section of the law court from 1982 to 2001 and finally, after appropriate restoration became site of a museum.  \n  \nThe Museum now contains some 1500 works from all over Asia. The rooms used for the permanent exhibition are divided into five separate “galleries”, which have fitted naturally into the structural layout of the building.  \n  \nThe MAO aspires to be as representative as possible in its choice of artworks from the various countries: its collections include the major cultural traditions from the continent, building on the important collections already owned by various institutions in Turin, whose directly inspired the proposed layout for the new museum which is divided into five clearly defined cultural areas: South Asia, China, Japan, Himalayan Countries and Islamic Countries.  \n  \nThe order in which the works are presented and the accompanying exhibit labels aim to highlight the points of contact and creative interactions between the different countries at the various historical periods, reintroducing a unified interpretation to the proposed route.  \n  \nThe MAO also acts as a cultural intermediary for visitors, who are generally unfamiliar with the concepts and cultural traditions to which exhibits refer. It aims to inspire visitors to explore new forms of thought, encouraging a fuller awareness of the value of all human knowledge.  \n  \nLastly, the MAO offers a wide range of public services: multimedia stations, online catalogue on the museum’s website, bookshop, possibility of using the art library and photographic archives of Fondazione Torino Musei, seminars, conferences, temporary exhibitions, and the educational rooms.","city":"Turin","address":"Via San Domenico11  \n10122 Turin","website":"http://www.maotorino.it","phone":"+39 01 14 43 69 27","fax":"+39 01 14 43 69 18","email":"mao@fondazionetorinomusei.it"},"3acfd33c-e4e0-5b37-a94a-380f38913853":{"name":"National Museum of Aleppo","description":"The earliest collection of art and archaeological artefacts for the National Museum of Aleppo dates back to 1928 and the museum was formally inaugurated in1931. Initially it was devoted to the pre-Greco-Roman era, with works no later than 333 BC, most of which were based on finds from Tell Halaf. It was decided to move the collection from its original location in an Ottoman period building, which had become overcrowded, into a modern purpose-built museum, begun in 1967 and formally opened in 1972. It includes the following wings:  \n  \nPre-historic art: dedicated to finds such as bones and pottery from the regions of Syria and the Euphrates Valley. Some items are about a million years old and the most recent piece dates to no later than 3,200 BC, after which writing was developed and art became historic.  \n  \nAncient Near Eastern art from Syria: one of the most important sections containing pieces from Tell Halaf, Mari, Ugarit, Ebla and other significant sites of early Near Eastern civilisations, all displayed in chronological order in three large wings.  \n  \nClassical art from the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods: pottery, coins, a number of limestone funerary carvings from the ancient city of Mambij, and a collection of Roman and Byzantine glass flasks used for perfume, eye-kohl and drugs are some of this section's main features, all displayed chronologically.  \n  \nArab Islamic art: The method of display here is based on the item's function and medium, such as pottery, ceramics, metalwork and glass of the various Islamic dynasties as well as a collection of gold and silver coins of the Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. A stone cenotaph carved in floriated kufic calligraphy is a masterpiece of this hall. Medieval military equipment and an Ottoman wooden ceiling featured in a side chamber are also presented.  \n  \nModern art: paintings by Syrian artists, particularly Aleppines, expressed in various styles such as realism, cubism, expressionism.","city":"Aleppo","address":"Al-Ma'arri Street  \nAleppo, Syria","phone":"+963 21 2122400","fax":"+963 21 2122402"},"3b3a5b19-fbaa-51e8-9923-ce90d4287338":{"name":"National Museum of Bardo","description":"Founded on 7 May 1888, and considered one of the most important archaeological museums in the Maghreb, the Bardo National Museum is famous for its Roman mosaic panels. The museum resulted from the renovation of the palace of a *bey* (provincial governor) of the 19th century. It consists of a ground floor and two upper floors in which museum objects have been grouped in a chronological order that retraces the history of Tunisia.  \n  \nThe collection includes areas dedicated to:  \n  \n– Prehistory: the development of stone tools, ornaments, engraved stones, and especially to the rock and animal bone sanctuary known as “Hermaion of El-Guettar” that dates back to BC 40,000.  \n  \n– The Punic era, including ceramics, neo-Punic steles and jewellery, and pieces exhumed from several ancient sites in Tunisia.  \n  \n– The Roman era. In addition to ceramics and jewellery, this section is known for its significant collection of mosaics.  \n  \n– The Byzantine era. It contains sarcophagi, mosaics and terracottas whose designs display characteristics of African Christianity, and the large mosaic-covered Kelibia Baptistery.  \n  \n– Mediterranean treasures recovered from a shipwreck found off the coast of Mahdia that also contained bronze artefacts and Athenian marbles.  \n  \n– The Muslim period. One section, devoted to the Middle Ages, includes objects from the Sabra and Raqqada excavations: Fatimid glass, ivory and bronze figurines, ceramics with figurative designs, funeral steles, kufic inscriptions, parchment sheets from the Qur’an and Egyptian textiles. In the second section, popular arts and traditions are represented by weapons, musical instruments, copper objects, jewellery and ceremonial clothing from different regions of Tunisia.  \n  \nObjects are grouped by type and material within each section. The mosaics are presented in wall panels or form part of the palace floor. Smaller objects are displayed in glass cases. Statues are exhibited on their stands or in wall niches. These collections, which comprise the museum’s permanent exhibition, are made accessible to the general public through educational and cultural activities that take place in the museum.  \n  \n*On 18 March 2015, the museum was the site of an attack by an Islamist terrorist group that killed 22 people, most of them tourists.*","city":"Tunis","address":"Musée national du Bardo  \n2000 Le Bardo, Tunisia","website":"http://www.bardomuseum.tn/","phone":"+216 71 513650 – 71 513842","fax":"+216 71 514050"},"3b73a306-1129-5c8d-acba-8e34a39e132f":{"name":"The British Museum","description":"The British Museum was established by Act of Parliament in 1753, the first national public museum in the world. From the beginning it granted free admission to all “studious and curious persons”. The founding collection was that of Sir Hans Sloane, a wealthy physician and collector. The original British Museum comprised three departments: Printed Books; Manuscripts (including coins); and Natural and Artificial Productions, which included everything from sculpture to mineral samples and zoological specimens. In January 1759 the British Museum opened its doors to the public.  \n  \nAs a product of the Enlightenment, the museum's job was to be a storehouse of knowledge for the use and benefit of the public, advancing all fields of scholarship. The museum therefore aimed to collect all kinds of material; it remains one of the few places in the world in which it is possible to see the world under one roof. During the 19th century the museum acquired representative collections of Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, as well as material from across the Islamic world.  \n  \nThe museum itself had to grow to offer space to display the growing collections. Between 1823 and 1847 the original building was replaced by four large wings built around a central courtyard. In 1854 construction began on the iconic Round Reading Room in the central courtyard. The natural history collections were given their own home in the new Museum of Natural History in 1881. By 1973 the British Library and British Museum were administratively separated, and in 1999 the new British Library building opened at St Pancras. The British Museum site was expanded and modernised. In 2000 the Great Court opened, envisioned as a sunny piazza at the centre of the building, with up-to-date facilities such as lecture theatres, an education centre and facilities for school children, as well as restaurants and shops. In 2014 the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre opened to the public, offering state-of-the-art facilities to care for, manage, research and display the collections.","city":"London","address":"Great Russell St., London WC1B 3DG  \nUnited Kingdom","website":"http://www.britishmuseum.org","phone":"+44 20 7323 8000 / 8299","fax":"+44 20 7323 8616","email":"information@britishmuseum.org"},"3eb798ec-9543-5a63-ba38-c22270fbbe84":{"name":"University Museum of Islamic Art | The Bumiller Collection","description":"An exceptional collection of early Islamic bronzes is housed in a historical town-house in the heart of the old city of Bamberg. The objects mostly originate from the Persianate world what is today Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The collection is completed by a significant number of ceramics, glass and ivory objects as well as numismatics and manuscripts. The many-sided compilation includes nearly all objects of daily life. Writing equipment, cosmetic utensils, jugs, bowls, trays, fumigating vessels, oil lamps, jewellery, mirrors and the like give a fascinating insight into the life along the Silk Road in the Middle Ages. The exhibition shows the development of forms as well as the high standard of metallurgy mastered by medieval craftsmen in the region. The most ambitious décor and production techniques such as repoussé, punching, engraving and damascening that Islamic art put forth during the centuries are represented among the objects of the collection.  \n  \nIt is the Bumiller Art Foundation's concern to present most diverse products of Islamic metallurgy and to make them available for research and learning. The museum continuously serves as a venue for researchers, students and all those interested in Islamic art.","city":"Bamberg","address":"Austraße 29  \n96047 Bamberg  \nGermany","website":"http://www.the-bumiller-collection.com","phone":"+49 951 25954","email":"info@the-bumiller-collection.com"},"40411e66-c284-545a-b2ef-8e0e8a2c7f6e":{"name":"MKG Museum for Applied Arts","description":"The Museum for Applied Arts (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg) is a museum of applied arts highlighting design, photography, fashion and graphic arts and crafts. The MKG was inaugurated in 1877 under its founding director Justus Brinckmann (1843-1915).  \n  \nThe Museums houses about 500,000 objects of art and design, covering a geographical scope from Europe, the Mediterranean Regions, to West and Asia. Over 4000 years of history of design and culture are presented, from Antiquity to the Present Age.  \n  \nThe Islamic Art wing is the oldest of its kind in Germany and has been part of the museum since its foundation. Justus Brinckmann acquired objects labelled Islamic Art in the context of the World Fairs in Vienna (1873) and Paris (1889). The initial focus of the collection were tiles and ceramics, which were acquired as decorative art.  \n  \nThe collection is significant for its outstanding individual objects. For example the *Divan Muhibbi* an illuminated volume of poetry (1554) by Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent or parts of the tile paneling of Buyan Kuli Khan’s mausoleum in Bukhara (Uzbekistan), fragments of a 16th century. Another masterpiece of the collection is a Safavid royal carpet.","city":"Hamburg","address":"Steintorplatz,  \nHamburg  \nGermany","website":"http://www.mkg-hamburg.de/","phone":"+49 (0)40 428134-880","fax":"+49 (0)40 428134-999","email":"service@mkg-hamburg.de"},"439840b5-f533-507d-b4b8-8d7e7014db20":{"name":"Jordan National Bank Numismatic Museum","description":"The Museum was established in 1999 to display the large collection of coins collected by Dr Nayef G. Goussous, a coin collector who obtained his Ph.D. in rare and indicted Umayyad copper coins.  \n  \nThe museum has accumulated over 14,000 coins and monetary symbols, many of which are rare and some unique. The collection spans more than 2,500 years; the earliest coin dates from 600 BC while the latest is in circulation today in Jordan.  \n  \nThe museum has especially strong holdings in the coins of Decapolis, provincial Arabia and the Umayyads, in addition to Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic coins, along with coin weights, gemstones and other numismatic artefacts.  \n  \nThe museum has a specialised library containing over 1,500 books.","city":"Amman","address":"P.O.B. 3103  \n11181  \nAmman, Jordan","phone":"+962 6 5687090","fax":"+962 6 5685848","email":"museum@ahlibank.com.jo"},"47364e44-3c52-55de-b9a6-855ff85e7443":{"name":"Monastir Museum of Islamic Art","description":"Housed in the Ribat of Monastir, which dates to the 2nd / 8th century, the museum consists of an open-air gallery displaying grave markers, and an exhibition space which was formerly the prayer room of the fort. This space houses richly decorated objects grouped by material and type; they constitute a collection that roughly corresponds to successive phases of the Muslim era in Tunisia.  \n  \nCeramic objects, in a wide variety of shapes, colours and decorative motifs, are characteristic of the Aghlabid, Fatimid, Hafsid and Ottoman periods. Originating from the sites of Raqqada and Sabra al-Masouriya, and dating back to the 3rd / 9th and 4th / 10th centuries, stucco elements are decorated with floral, geometric and inscription motifs. The marble elements are all funerary steles in the form of tablets, a column and a sword; they come from the Monastir cemetery and date back to the 3rd–5th / 9th–11th centuries.  \n  \nWooden friezes decorated with floral motifs and inscriptions come from the Great Mosque of Kairouan, and wooden corbels from the 4th–5th / 10th–11th centuries are also exhibited. Glass objects from the Fatimid and Mamluk periods are on display. Some were found at the Sabra al-Mansouriya site. The room contains a case with gold and silver coins dating back to the above-mentioned periods, and glass calibrators from the 9th century. The metallic objects include a remarkable astrolabe dating to the 12th / 18th century.  \n  \nThe arts of calligraphy and binding are represented by a set of parchment Qur’an folios from the library of the Great Mosque of Kairouan that date back to the 9th to 12th centuries. Among these is the Qur’an of al-Hadinah, governess to the Zirid ruler Badis (410 / 1020). Leather bindings decorated with floral and geometric motifs reveal the evolution of this art over five centuries (3rd–7th / 9th–13th). Coptic and Fatimid textiles with epigraphs that include names of workshops are characteristic of royal production, and enhance the museum’s permanent collection.","city":"Monastir","address":"Ribat  \nMonastir, Tunisie","phone":"+216 73 461272","fax":"+216 73 461272"},"4ab46509-e7a3-56bf-8e30-734b61d97e56":{"name":"Umm Qays Archaeological Museum","description":"This museum, opened to the public in 1987, is located in a renovated historical building (late 19th century) constructed on the acropolis from basalt and limestone. The exhibition space consists of two vaulted halls in which artefacts uncovered in the course of excavation at the ancient site of Gadara (Umm Qays) are displayed. Mosaic panels, marble statues and carved basalt sarcophagi are exhibited in the courtyard of the museum.","city":"Irbid","address":"P.O.B. 62  \nIrbid, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 7500072","fax":"+962 2 7500071"},"4f5bd5e0-0138-5ef6-8f9a-0bb1663130cb":{"name":"Ege University","city":"Izmir","address":"Ege Üniversitesi Rektörlüğü  \n35040 Bornova,  \nIzmir, Turkey","phone":"+90 232 3390593","fax":"+90 232 3399091"},"53724213-926c-5852-9d55-d58f73ce9266":{"name":"Pepoli Museum","description":"The Pepoli Museum is located in the 14th century palace of the ‘300’ which was the seat of the convent of the Carmelite Fathers.  \n  \nWithin the museum, the most important section is that attributed to the private collections of Count Agostino Pepoli, to whom the museum was attributed to when it was built in the 1900s.  \n  \nTo the museum collections were later added works from the Fardelliana art gallery which constituted paintings from the Neapolitan school as well as other works from Trapani religious organisations. Other important aspects within the museum constitute the collections of applied arts from patrons such as Count Hernandez of Erice and the Hospice Sieri Pepoli.  \n  \nAlongside its collections of paintings and sculptures, the Pepoli museum showcases the development of figurative arts within the region; nativity paintings, corals, gold and silver objects, ecclesiastical furnishings, sacred hangings, majolica pottery, archaeological finds, coins and historical relics of the city of Trapani.  \n  \nIn regard to Islamic art, the museum contains a noteworthy collection of epigraphs with Kufic inscriptions upon its ground floor.","city":"Trapani","address":"Via Conte Agostino Pepoli, 180  \n91100  \nTrapani, Italy","website":"http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/museopepoli/MuseoPepoli.html","phone":"+39 0923 553269","fax":"+39 0923 535444","email":"museo.pepoli@regione.sicilia.it"},"559ab197-7289-5af4-a295-1118bde9afce":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum, State Museums","description":"**The Museum of Islamic Art is closed from October 2023 to March 2027 due to renovation and expansion works.**  \n  \nThe Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum Berlin is the only institution of its kind in Germany, the oldest in the West and with its c. 93,000 pieces it houses one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic art from nearly all regions of Islamic rule.  \n  \nIts collections are especially rich in objects from an architectural context including the monumental façade of the caliphal palace of Mshatta (Jordan), dating from the mid-8th century. It is the largest artefact of Islamic Art in any museum worldwide. The unique dome from the Alhambra Palace in Granada (Spain) and 13th-century prayer niches from Kashan (Iran) and Konya (Turkey) are among the highlights. Most loved by our visitors is the finely painted wooden panelling of an upper-class house from Aleppo (Syria) from the early 17th century – it is the oldest surviving exemplar from the Ottoman World. Among the several archaeological groups from major excavations in the Islamic world the finds from the 9th-century caliphal capital of Samarra (Iraq) stand out. The collection also has a large number of important Ottoman and Persian carpets and bibliographical works of art, including numerous miniatures from the Mughal Empire.  \n  \nThe collection is displayed chronologically, allowing the visitor to follow the different stylistic phases of Islamic art and to develop a notion of the complex Islamic history and its artistic merits. Because of the large number of visitors (up to 900,000 yearly), only a small number of the most important works of art are on display. The museum will move inside Pergamon-Museum and will triple its exhibition space (3,000sq.m) by 2020. The layout and concept will discover new and innovative ways to present the cultural legacy.  \n  \nWith its rich art and archaeological collection, the Museum of Islamic Art is one of the leading research institutions dedicated to the material culture of the Middle East and neighbouring regions. Our many research, conservation and exhibition projects amount to a probing investigation of the urban legacies of the Near and Middle East. The institution houses important collections of archival photographs on Islamic art and architecture as well as an internationally outstanding library focused on art, architecture and archaeology in the world of Islam.","city":"Berlin","address":"Geschwister-Scholl-Straße, 6  \n10117 Berlin  \nGermany","website":"http://www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/museum-fuer-islamische-kunst/home.html","phone":"+49 30 266 42 5201","fax":"+49 30 266 42 5202","email":"isl@smb.spk-berlin.de"},"5a99ecbe-b976-5037-8760-a07c629142f6":{"name":"Kunsthistorisches Museum","description":"The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is one of the foremost museums in the world, with rich holdings comprising artworks from seven millennia - from Ancient Egypt to the late 18th century. The collections of Renaissance and Baroque art are of particular importance.  \n  \nThe KHM’s extensive holdings are on show at different locations: the main building on Ringstrasse houses the Picture Gallery, the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, the Coin Collection and the Kunstkammer.  \n  \nOther collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum are housed in the Neue Burg (i.e. the Collection of Historical Musical Instruments, the Collection of Arms and Armour, and the Ephesus Museum), in Hofburg Palace (the Treasury), and in Schönbrunn Palace (the Collection of Historical Carriages).  \n  \nThe collections on show at Ambras Palace are also part of the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  \n  \nSince January 2001, the Museum of Ethnology on Heldenplatz and the Austrian Theatre Museum on Lobkowitz Square have been incorporated into the KHM.","city":"Vienna","address":"Burgring, 5  \n1010 Vienna","website":"http://www.khm.at/","phone":"+43 1 525 24-0","email":"info@khm.at"},"5c8c36bb-1ee8-5468-bdc7-ec865b742d71":{"name":"National Museum of Art of Romania","description":"The National Museum of Art of Romania was founded in 1948 with works drawn from local private and public collections, as well as from the royal collection. It has been housed ever since in the former royal palace situated in the very heart of Bucharest. The Museum is home to the largest and finest art collection in the country. The current holdings, which include over 100,000 works, are divided among five curatorial departments, one of them dedicated to Oriental art.  \n  \nSince its establishment in 1954, the Oriental art collection of the Museum has been steadily expanded and consolidated around two main areas of interest: Islamic art, on the one hand, Chinese and Japanese art, on the other. It is the largest Oriental collection housed by a Romanian museum, and it consists of items from the royal collection, the Toma Stelian Museum, as well as gifts and acquisitions. The Department of Oriental Art currently holds over 5,000 objects. The holdings of three other departments of the Museum, namely the Department of Medieval Romanian Art, that of Decorative Art, as well as the Art Collections Museum (which is part of the National Museum of Art of Romania) include notable Islamic artworks, some of which have been selected for this site.  \n  \nThe permanent exhibition was closed for a much-needed ample renovation of the building, and will be redisplayed in newly refurbished areas in compliance with European standards of conservation. Meanwhile, exhibitions of Oriental art are being shown regularly. About four hundred carpets covering a wide geographical area and spanning four centuries are at the core of the collection of Islamic art. Even though less extensive, the collections of ceramics, embroideries, and metalwork boast some outstanding works, providing a meaningful insight into distinct areas of Islamic art.  \n  \nAlongside the Art Collections Museum, which holds a considerable number of Islamic artefacts donated over the years by Romanian art collectors, the National Museum of Art of Romania manages two other museums in Bucharest: K. H. Zambaccian Museum and Theodor Pallady Museum.","city":"Bucharest","address":"Calea Victoriei 49-53  \nsector 1  \n010063 Bucureşti","website":"https://www.mnar.arts.ro/en/","phone":"+40 21 313 30 30","fax":"+40 21 312 43 27","email":"secretariat@art.museum.ro"},"5db20458-bdcf-5050-98fb-3fb2d1392a0a":{"name":"Museum for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities","description":"When it was founded in 1954, the Museum for Mediterranean and Near East Antiquities comprised collections of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Cypriote antiquities. As a department of the National History Museum, the museum was primarily of an archaeological nature aimed at showing the origins of western civilization. However, in 1982, a large part of the Swedish collections of Islamic art were added to it, in response to increasing understanding of the Mediterranean countries as a region of close relations and interactions over the centuries. With its incorporation, in 1999, in the National Museum of World Culture, an organization consisting of the four Swedish state museums with foreign collections, the focus changed to the diversity of culture within the region of the Mediterranean and in relation to the rest of the world.  \n  \nThe Islamic collection of the museum consists of ceramics, metal works, textiles and miniatures, mostly from Iran and Turkey. It also includes well-known collections such as the so-called Hannibal collection of glass fragments. Although Sweden does not border any Islamic lands, there are many cultural objects in archives, libraries and other museums testifying to its diplomatic and commercial relations with Islamic countries. Examples from these institutions were selected to characterize the development of the Islamic collections in Sweden.  \n  \nThe Islamic collection is displayed in two rooms accessible from the main hall. As an introduction, the Muslim way of life is depicted by objects from a religious context. The exhibition itself displays artefacts from different regions and periods and of various materials according to aesthetic traditions. Located near finds from other Mediterranean cultures the exhibition encourages visitors to understand relationships, traditions and influences.","city":"Stockholm","address":"Fredsgatan 2  \nBox 16008  \n10321 Stockholm, Sweden","website":"http://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/medelhavsmuseet/","phone":"+46 010 456 12 00","email":"info@medelhavsmuseet.se"},"6001ff30-e9b6-573e-a38c-5ac23b472e6c":{"name":"Saint Louis Art Museum","description":"Mission  \n  \nThe Saint Louis Art Museum collects, presents, interprets, and conserves works of art of the highest quality across time and cultures; educates, inspires discovery, and elevates the human spirit; and preserves a legacy of artistic achievement for the people of St. Louis and the world.  \n  \nHistory  \n  \nThe Saint Louis Art Museum was founded in 1879, at the close of a decade that saw the establishment of art museums in great cities across the eastern half of the United States. This Museum’s comprehensive collections bear witness to the inspirational and educational goals to which its founder aspired and the moral and democratic imperatives he embraced. What began as a collection of assorted plaster casts, electrotype reproductions, and other examples of good design in various media rapidly gave way to a great and varied collection of original works of art spanning five millennia and six continents. Today the quality and breadth of the Museum’s collection secure for it a place among the very best institutions of its kind.  \n  \n(*Saint Louis Art Museum Handbook of the Collection*)**","city":"Saint Louis","address":"1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park  \nSt. Louis, Missouri 63110","website":"http://www.slam.org","phone":"+1 314.721.0072","fax":"+1 314.721.6172","email":"info@slam.org"},"6021cc63-7507-5dd7-8c81-4b04847b92d2":{"name":"Ethnography Museum","description":"The Ethnography Museum is located on a hill donated by the General Directorate of Foundations to the Ministry of National Education. The architect Arif Hikmet (Koyunoğlu) is one of the most renowned architects of the early Republican period. The building has a rectangular plan with a single dome. The stone walls are faced with coarse sandstone, and the marble pediment has carved decoration.  \n  \nA special commission to collect and purchase artefacts was established in Istanbul, headed by Prof. Celal Esad (Arseven) in 1924 and then by Halil Ethem (Eldem), Director of Istanbul Museums, in 1925. 1,250 purchased artefacts were placed in the museum whose construction was completed in 1927. Hamit Zübeyr Koşay was appointed as the director. The equestrian bronze statue of Atatürk that stands in front of the Museum was made by the Italian sculptor B. Conanica at the request of the Ministry of National Education in 1927.  \n  \nOn 15 April 1928, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) visited the museum and on his request the museum was opened to public on 18 July 1930 on the occasion of the visit of Afghan King Amanullah Han. In November 1938 the inner courtyard was reserved as a temporary mausoleum for Atatürk until his body was transferred to his own mausoleum, the Anıtkabir, in 1953. This section is stil kept as a symbolic cenotaph in Atatürk’s memory. Between 1953 and 1956, renovations were carried out for the International Museums Week in 1956 when the museum was reopened to the public.  \n  \nThe Ethnography Museum houses examples of Turkish art dating from the Seljuq period to modern times.  \n  \nTo the right of the entrance are halls displaying items related to the Anatolian wedding ceremony and bridal dresses, Turkish embroidery, Turkish carpets, Anatolian coffee culture and the circumcision ceremony.  \n  \nTo the left of the entrance are halls housing tile and glass artefacts, objects donated by Besim Atalay, Ottoman calligraphy and some of the finest wooden artefacts from the Seljuq and Emirate periods.","city":"Ankara","address":"Talatpaşa Bulvarı, Ülkü Sokak, 4  \n(Eski Türk Ocağı yanı) Opera  \nAnkara, Turkey","website":"https://muze.gov.tr/muze-detay?SectionId=AET01&DistId=MRK","phone":"+90 312 311 30 07","fax":"+90 312 311 95 56","email":"ankaraetnografyamuze@kultur.gov.tr"},"602d76d9-58fd-50f3-85c3-b98598339046":{"name":"Saint-Petersburg Museum of Islamic Culture","description":"“Seek knowledge, even as far as China.” These words are attributed to the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and can be interpreted as a directive to pursue enlightenment around the world, no matter how difficult it may be. In homage to the Islamic tradition of education, our museum’s logo displays the Prophet’s words in traditional Islamic calligraphy, in which Arabic letters in ancient kufic script are arranged to form a square.  \n  \nOur museum is dedicated to Islamic culture. For many centuries, the peoples of the Islamic world have supported cultural growth. The Islamic values of education and exploration have led to great advancements, such as the Islamic Golden Age that became a bridge between Hellenism and the Renaissance. Today, nearly 1.8 billion people from 120 countries practice Islam. As founders of this museum, we have worked with our friends and colleagues to organise yearly expeditions to explore Islamic culture “as far as China.” We have adopted a modern approach to study the diversity of the Islamic world, drawing strongly on ethnographic material. Our museum tells amazing stories!  \n  \nWe, the founders of the museum, express our sincere gratitude to the St Petersburg City Administration for their interest in our initiative and their proposal to grant us the use of 21 Kadetskaya Line. This building, erected in the 1780s, is the former house of architect Alexander Brullov and is a listed heritage property of federal importance. At various points throughout the 20th century, the building housed a confectionary, a kindergarten, a library and other institutions. More recently, it housed the Museum of Old Petersburg. At present, the building is in disrepair and in need of comprehensive refurbishment and renovation. Consequently, we are committed to accurately restoring the building and adapting it with care to the museum’s needs. We are eager to utilise modern technology, including interactive elements and augmented reality, to create vibrant exhibitions for our visitors.","city":"Saint Petersburg","address":"21, Kadetskaya Line  \n  \nPOSTAL ADDRESS  \n193079, Saint Petersburg,  \n73 а, Dalnevostochniy Prospect","website":"http://islamiculture.museum","phone":"+7-921-320-62-64","email":"islamiculture@mail.ru"},"609d991f-8031-5bb5-a9b6-a18f8a52f5aa":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"Madaba Archaeological Park  \nHisban, Jordan  \n  \nSpanish Mission  \nAmman, Jordan"},"60b02d9b-3b33-59db-9e40-8f5e785c3d52":{"name":"Al-Saraya Museum","description":"The Museum is housed in what was originally a two-storey Ottoman building dated to 1883, which was constructed to accommodate officials.  \n  \nThe building underwent several modifications after the late Ottoman period. In its present state it has seven barrel-vaults and ten rooms organised around a courtyard. In 2006 it was converted into an archaeological museum displaying artefacts discovered during excavations which took place mainly in the governorate of Irbid, north Jordan.  \n  \nThe museum holds objects from the Stone Age through to the Ottoman period in chronological order. These objects are pottery, alabaster, glass vessels and sculptures in addition to Byzantine mosaic floors.","city":"Irbid","address":"P.O.Box 62  \nIrbid, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 7245613","fax":"+962 2 7240406","email":"+962 79 5382023 (mobile director)"},"6440f57d-bc25-5c0f-9b16-443be2f69b2a":{"name":"Khalili Family Trust – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection","description":"In striving to provide a synoptic vision of the arts of the entire Islamic world, and since the 1970s, Professor Nasser D. Khalili has assembled his collection of Islamic art under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust. With holdings of more than 28,000 objects documenting the range of artistic production of the Islamic lands over a period of some 1400 years, the Collection now ranks among the best in the world and represents a new generation of Islamic art collections.  \n  \nThe Collection includes an outstanding array of manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an and of illustrated manuscripts, and the coverage of the decorative arts – ceramics, textiles, glass, metalwork and lacquer as well as seals and coins – is comprehensive.  \n  \nThe holdings of manuscripts and folios of the Holy Qur’an are the first to have been assembled systematically in order to illustrate the whole history of Qur’an production, both in terms of time span and geographical range – from the 8th to the 20th centuries, and from Morocco to China. Similar sequences have been assembled for painting and the decorative arts. Glass, ceramics and metalwork, for example, are represented in the full range of techniques from the pre-Islamic period through to the 19th century.  \n  \nLater Islamic art has been given the same level of attention. The wealth of important objects and manuscripts from later periods in the Collection shows that much art worthy of our attention on aesthetic as well as historical and intellectual grounds was produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Another important art form of this period is Islamic lacquer, represented in the Collection by more than 500 examples.  \n  \nThe catalogue of the Collection is an unprecedented 27-volume series, of which several are now published, and when completed will form a unique survey of the field to date. *Studies in the Khalili Collection* is a second series of publications related to the Islamic art collection, presenting more detailed analysis of certain objects.  \n  \n**Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection**  \n  \nFor some 40 years, and under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust, Professor Nasser D. Khalili has been actively involved in assembling a notable collection of objects relating to Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam and the one that lends itself most readily to artistic expression. With over 3000 objects, the Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection is now one of the largest and most important of its kind and includes major objects, many of which are unique.  \n  \nThe objects range in date from the 8th to the 20th centuries and geographically from China and India in the east to Morocco and the United Kingdom in the west. They include some 250 woven and embroidered textiles made for the two holy sanctuaries at Mecca and Medina, seven covers for the Egyptian and Syrian *mahmal*s, Qur’ans, illustrated manuscripts, scientific instruments, coins, paintings, rare books, prints, photographs and postcards, as well as important archival material and some unique historical documents.  \n  \nGiven its size and diversity, the Collection provides a comprehensive overview of Hajj, illustrating the religious, spiritual, cultural and artistic aspects of pilgrimage to the holy cities of Islam and the cosmopolitan nature of Hajj.  \n  \nFor several years now, the material has been undergoing a thorough programme of conservation which is soon to be completed, and research in preparation for its publication in a number of volumes is well advanced. The volumes will include contributions by a number of international scholars who are leading experts in the numerous disciplines that this subject evokes.","city":"London","website":"http://www.khalilicollections.org","email":"info@nourhouse.com"},"6da08597-8da7-5d02-a911-09a5273c1265":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Museum of National Antiquities (Historiska Museet)**  \nBox 5428  \nNarvavägen 13–17  \n114 84 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 8 51955600  \n[www.historiska.se](http://www.historiska.se)  \n  \n**Museum of Ethnography (Etnografiska museet)**  \nDjurgårdsbrunnsvägen 34,  \nBox 27140,  \n102 52 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 010 4561299  \n[www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/etnografiskamuseet/](http://www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/etnografiskamuseet/)  \n  \n**National Museum of Fine Arts (Nationalmuseum)**  \nBox 16176  \n103 24 Stockholm  \nAddress for visitors: Södra Blasieholmshamnen  \nTel.: +46 8 51954300  \n[www.nationalmuseum.se](http://www.nationalmuseum.se)  \n  \n**Royal Coin Cabinet (Kungl. Myntkabinettet)**  \nSlottsbacken 6,  \nBox 5428  \n114 84 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 8 51955300  \n[www.myntkabinettet.se](http://www.myntkabinettet.se)  \n  \n**Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren)**  \nSlottsbacken 3,  \n111 30 Stockholm  \nTel: +46 8 4023000  \n[www.lrk.lsh.se](http://www.lrk.lsh.se)  \n  \n**National Maritime Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet)**  \nBox 27131  \n102 52 Stockholm  \nAddress for visitors: Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen 24  \nTel.: +46 8 51954900  \n[www.sjohistoriska.se](http://www.sjohistoriska.se)  \n  \n**Army Museum (Armémuseum)**  \nBox 14095,  \n104 41 Stockholm  \nAddress for visitors: Riddargatan 13  \nTel.: +46 8 51956310  \n[www.sfhm.se](http://www.sfhm.se)  \n  \n**Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet)**  \nFyrverkarbacken 13,  \nBox 12541,  \n102 29 Stockholm  \nTel: +46 010 4767000  \n[www.riksarkivet.se](http://www.riksarkivet.se)  \n  \n**Hallwyl Museum (Hallwylska Museet)**  \nHamngatan 4,  \n111 47 Stockholm  \nTel.: +46 8 4023099  \n[http://www.hallwylskamuseet.se](http://www.hallwylskamuseet.se)  \n  \n**Museum of Cultural History**  \nBox 1095  \n221 04 Lund  \nAddress for visitors:  \nTegnérsplatsen  \n223 50 Lund  \nTel.: +46 046 350400  \n[www.kulturen.com](http://www.kulturen.com)  \n  \n**Uppsala University Library**  \nBox 510,  \n751 20 Uppsala  \nAddress for visitors: Carolina Rediviva, Dag Hammarskjölds väg 1  \nTel.: +46 18 4713900  \n[www.ub.uu.se](http://www.ub.uu.se)"},"70de1706-9586-5047-bb4b-f1cf7fb14120":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Tavira Municipal Museum**  \nTavira, Faro, Portugal  \n  \n**National Museum of Ancient Art**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Moura Municipal Museum**  \nMoura, Beja, Portugal  \n  \n**Santarém Municipal Museum**  \nSantarém, Portugal  \n  \n**Lisbon Cathedral**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Carmo Museum of Archaeology**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**City Museum**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Cathedral of Braga Treasury**  \nBraga, Portugal  \n  \n**Infante D. Henrique Archaeological and Lapidary Museum**  \nFaro, Portugal  \n  \n**Évora Museum**  \nÉvora, Portugal  \n  \n**National Museum of Archaeology**  \nLisbon, Portugal  \n  \n**Queen Leonor Regional Museum**  \nBeja, Portugal  \n  \n**Machado de Castro National Museum**  \nCoimbra, Portugal"},"71715b75-3521-53ee-8c85-91fca0b977d0":{"name":"National Museums Scotland","description":"The collections of what is now National Museums Scotland were built over more than two centuries, with two strands of history coming together in the story of the organisation’s development. First the desire to have a museum reflecting Scottish history and second the wish to have a museum demonstrating international cultures, natural and physical sciences, and decorative art for Scotland.  \n  \nThe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland was founded in 1780, very much in the spirit of the Enlightenment, to collect the archaeology of Scotland. Its collections passed into public ownership in 1851 as the original collections of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. In 1985 the National Museum of Antiquities was amalgamated with the Royal Scottish Museum. The latter was founded in 1854 as the Industrial Museum of Scotland and reflected the impetus of Victorian ideals of education. It started international collecting and research as well as forming close links to the collections and teaching of Edinburgh University, which continue today. Renamed the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, it opened in its first bespoke buildings, designed by Francis Fowke, on Chambers Street in 1866. The 1985 amalgamation created the largest multi-disciplinary museum in Scotland, with 12 million items in its collections and the largest body of curatorial and conservation expertise in the country. Today, National Museums Scotland includes the National Museum of Scotland, the National War Museum, and the National Museums Collections Centre - a research, storage, and conservation facility in Edinburgh, as well as the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian, and the National Museum of Rural Life in Lanarkshire.  \n  \nNational Museums Scotland started acquiring material culture from West Asia and North Africa in 1854. Today, material from West Asia comprises more than 4,000 items from a geographical area that spans from Turkey to Central Asia to Yemen, alongside over 500 objects in our collections from North African countries. Dating from the 7th to the 21st centuries, they give an insight into the past and the present of the people living in these regions, particularly through representations of their different crafts, and the skills and social values associated with them. The museum’s collections reflect British and Scottish collectors’ interests in the Islamic world and embody entangled colonial histories and interrelations.","city":"Edinburgh","address":"Chambers Street,  \nEdinburgh EH1 1JF","website":"http://www.nms.ac.uk","phone":"+ 44 (0)300 123 6789","email":"info@nms.ac.uk"},"7712e497-33e4-5529-91c3-47abff00f87c":{"name":"National Archaeological Museum","description":"The National Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueológico Nacional or MAN) is Spain’s most important museum of history. It preserves, researches and presents its collections of archaeology, art and history to the public. In doing so, the museum aspires to offer all visitors an accurate, attractive, interesting and critical interpretation of the meaning of objects from the past, in the hopes that a deeper knowledge of history will help them to better analyse and understand the reality of today. Given the relevance and scope of its collections, the National Archaeological Museum is comparable in its specialty to prominent Spanish museums (Prado, Thyssen, Reina Sofía or the Royal Collections Gallery), by showing our country’s diversity and affluence in terms of cultural history.  \n  \nThe museum occupies a monumental building in the heart of the Salamanca quarter, one of Madrid’s busiest shopping and leisure districts, and is strategically positioned along the Recoletos-Prado artery, which boasts the highest concentration of art and culture institutions in the city. The museum’s magnificent building in the heart of Madrid offers a historical infrastructure — complete with building, garden and fence —which is fully renovated and accessible.  \n  \nThe MAN has grown and evolved constantly since it was created in 1867, almost 160 years ago, and is still changing today to meet the needs of the 21st century. After a complete overhaul between 2008 and 2014, the institution reopened in April 2014 with a brand-new look and layout, claiming its place among Europe’s most modern museums. The renovated building is divided into six floors and has a total surface area of nearly 30,000 m2, of which 18,304 m2 are reserved for public use (the permanent exhibition alone occupies 9,239 m2). The museum has also been fitted out with different service areas, including a spacious vestibule, café, shop and activity rooms.  \n  \nThe MAN’s extraordinary collection, which includes a large number of priceless historical and cultural artefacts, comprises over one million archaeological, historical and artistic objects.  \n  \nIts holdings are vast and varied: Palaeolithic bifaces, practically the only tool in existence for millennia; delicate ivory carvings that combine aesthetic appeal with practical functionality; prehistoric engravings found in the Cave of El Castillo, evidence of humanity’s earliest artistic and symbolic expressions; the abstract aesthetics of the “Idol of Extremadura”; the classical, timeless beauty of the Lady of Elche; ancient Roman sculptures; the extraordinary treasure of Guarrazar; the Romanesque crucifix of Ferdinand and Sancha; the lovely equestrian figure of Hector by Il Filarete; and the ornamental paintings of Luis Paret on a Baroque armchair are just some of the treasures it houses.  \n  \nThe Museum's Islamic Art collection largely comes from the different historical periods of Al-Andalus, the name that the Muslims gave to the territory they conquered in the Iberian Peninsula. The aesthetic quality achieved by Andalusian art is demonstrated in the capitals, arches, marble panels and alabaster and plaster decorations of the period, especially from the Caliphate of Córdoba. Added to this is the museum's collection of decorative and highly refined objects made in the Andalusian palace workshops, such as metal, ivory and glazed ceramics. Likewise, a large collection of objects is preserved that show the symbiosis of Hispano-Islamic and Christian forms in the Iberian Peninsula, as the dome of the Torrijos Palace.","city":"Madrid","address":"Serrano, 13  \n28001  \nMadrid, Spain","website":"http://www.man.es/","phone":"+34 91 577 79 12","fax":"+34 91 432 68 40","email":"secretaria.man@mecd.es"},"804de1a6-e288-5381-8982-10883c9b8fcb":{"name":"Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities, Department of Antiquities","city":"Amman","address":"Department of Antiquities of Jordan (DoA)  \nP.O. Box 88  \nAmman, Jordan","website":"http://www.doa.gov.jo/En/index.php","phone":"+962 6 4644336, 4641275","fax":"+962 6 4615848","email":"doa@nic.net.jo"},"85fff507-bb71-531b-85a8-f2b6d6324d8e":{"name":"Shangri La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art","description":"Built in Honolulu, Hawai'i from 1936–1938, Shangri La overlooks the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head and houses Doris Duke’s (1912–1993) collection of Islamic art. Of the many homes that Duke inhabited, Shangri La is the only one that she built from the ground up and filled from the inside out.  \n  \nThe five-acre complex integrates a 14,000-square-foot house, a Playhouse, and a pool, comprising a series of interlocking spaces, both indoors and out: rooms, courtyards, lanais, terraces, gardens, and numerous water features. While design and early construction were underway, Duke traveled extensively in the Middle East, visiting historical monuments and providing the architect with photographs of architectural decoration to be incorporated into Shangri La's design. She also placed large commissions with contemporary artisans in India, Morocco, Iran, and Syria to create art and architectural elements, utilizing traditional forms, patterns, and means of fabrication.  \n  \nFor nearly 60 years, Doris Duke continued to collect Islamic art, ultimately forming a collection of about 2,500 objects, many of which are embedded into the structure of the house. Iranian ceramic tile panels, carved and painted ceilings from Morocco, jali (perforated screen) doors and windows, and textiles and carpets create a living environment of Islamic art and architectural decoration.  \n  \nThe later centuries of production (c. 1600–1940) are better represented, and ceramics, metalwork, wood, glass and textiles are favored over the arts of the book and works on paper. The collection ranges from items of the finest artistic quality, including medieval Persian tilework and painted interiors from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Damascus, to ethnographic objects such as leather saddles and a bedouin-style tent, reflecting Duke's broad and inclusive sense of aesthetics.  \n  \nToday, Shangri La is nationally recognized for its high artistic value and as one of Hawai'i's most architecturally significant homes. It is open to the public for guided tours and educational programs such as lectures, performances and occasional symposia. Shangri La also supports residencies for contemporary artists and for scholars researching Islamic art.","city":"Honolulu","address":"4055 Papu Circle  \nHonolulu, HI 96816","website":"http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/","phone":"(808) 734-1941","fax":"(808) 732-4361","email":"shangrilahawaii@ddcf.org"},"8a41ae85-1217-5a1f-a8f2-68da1d74234d":{"name":"National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art","description":"The National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art is the oldest museum in Algeria and Africa. The collection was set up in 1835, five years after the French occupation, by the then Governor General Marshal Clauzel who appointed Adrien Berbrugger as its first curator. From 1838 onward, the early museum hosted pieces, of Algerian provenance, from Antiquity up until the Ottoman periods. Between 1838 and 1896, this early museum occupied different places of the lower Casbah, before settling in a beautiful park located on the heights of Mustapha Pasha - now known as the Park of Liberty - where it was officially inaugurated in 1897.  \n  \nSince then these two divisions of the museum’s collection, Antiquity and Islamic, have continued to grow. This collection makes it possible to exhibit the history of Algeria from its Libyan-Punic era through to the 20th century. The objects are displayed in two separate buildings: one houses the pre-Islamic collection whilst the other houses the collection of Islamic art, which was inaugurated in May 2003.  \n  \nThe ancient collection is very rich and includes collections of mosaics, sculptures, Libyan and Latin inscriptions, coins and medals, bronze, ivory, bone, ceramics and wooden objects.  \n  \nThe Islamic section was formed from the first collection of 1854, which included Algerian and Oriental objects. It has gradually been enriched by pieces uncovered through archaeological excavations carried throughout the country. This wide-ranging collection includes sculpted plasterboard from 10th century Sedrata, marble or plaster sculptures of the 11th century Qal'a of Beni Hammad as well as the chairs of the 11th century Almoravid mosques in Algiers and the 12th century mosque of Nedroma.  \n  \nThe furniture arts of North Africa is also widely represented in this museum. Shop windows contain Ottoman-era embroidery, clothing, ceramics, weapons, jewellery, chiselled brass and worked repoussé that comes from the urban centres as well as rural areas. Manuscripts and miniatures complete the collection.  \n  \nThe museum’s numismatic collection is exhibited in a reading room that was inaugurated in May 2006.","city":"Algiers","address":"177, bd Krim-Belkacem, Parc de la Liberté  \nAlgiers, Algeria","website":"https://m-culture.gov.dz/index.php/fr/mus%C3%A9es","phone":"+213 0 21 68 11 29","fax":"+213 0 21 68 12 56","email":"museemna@musee-antiquites.art.dz"},"8cce8832-baec-59fe-a3c0-e47ad8d4d6d9":{"name":"The Chester Beatty Library","description":"The Chester Beatty Library is an art museum and library that houses some of the finest treasures of the great cultures and religions of the world. The Library’s collections were bequeathed to the Irish people by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968), an American mining engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist of Scots-Irish descent who moved from New York to London in 1911. He become a naturalized British citizen in 1933, and in 1954, although no longer living in Britain, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his wartime services to Britain. In 1950, Chester Beatty moved his by-then large collection to Dublin, where he built a library on Shrewsbury Road in the city’s suburbs. The library opened to researchers in 1953 and later also to the public. In 1957, he became the first person to be made an honorary citizen of Ireland, and he was also the first private citizen in the country to be accorded a state funeral. Besides his library, he made many other gifts to Ireland, including a large collection of nineteenth-century French paintings, now in the National Gallery of Ireland, and a collection of arms and armour, now in the Curragh Military Museum in County Kildare. In 2000, the Chester Beatty Library moved to new premises in Dublin Castle, in the city centre.  \n  \nThe Library’s collections consist of Western, East Asian and Islamic material, mainly manuscripts, printed books and other works on paper, although the East Asian Collections also include a large range of decorative arts. The Library has two permanent galleries, the Sacred Traditions and Arts of the Book galleries, and a smaller gallery for temporary exhibitions.  \n  \nThe five sections of the Islamic Collections consist of a total of just over 6100 individual items that are generally regarded as comprising one of the finest such collections outside the Middle East. Of especial note is the Qur’an Collection, which includes some of the earliest Qur’ans in existence, dated to the early 8th century, and renowned manuscripts such as the Qur’an copied by Ibn al-Bawwab in Baghdad in 1000AD. The Persian Collection includes works by all the major classical Persian poets including an especially fine collection of *Shahnama* manuscripts. Mainly religious texts make up the Turkish Collection, although it also includes major 16th-century, illustrated historical works, such as a history of the Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. The Library is also well known for its very fine Mughal Collection, which includes over 1000 individual folios of calligraphy and painting, most notable of the latter being the many portraits of the Mughal emperors. In contrast to the magnificent works of art (often in near pristine condition) found in these collections are the more than 2600 manuscripts of the Arabic Collection, which are mostly undecorated, often very worn, and frequently the only surviving copy of a particular text. The Library also possesses a small collection of Islamic art objects, such as detached bindings, amulets, pencases and quadrants.","city":"Dublin","address":"Dublin Castle  \nDublin 2, Ireland","website":"https://chesterbeatty.ie/","phone":"+353 1 40 70 750","fax":"+353 1 40 70 760","email":"info@cbl.ie"},"95483cda-d367-5af3-ad0e-2779b97409cb":{"name":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah","description":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI) is a cultural organisation based on a Kuwaiti private art collection owned by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, founder of The al-Sabah Collection and his wife, DAI director general and co-founder Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah.  \n  \nEstablished in 1983, DAI was created to manage The al-Sabah Collection, an esteemed collection of Islamic art on permanent loan to the State of Kuwait under the auspices of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. The collection preserves and presents all aspects of Islamic art and includes more than 20,000 pieces extending from Spain to China, from the 1st – 13th centuries AH/7th – 19th centuries AD.  \n  \nSince its inception, DAI has grown from a single focus organisation to an internationally recognised cultural organisation. DAI’s main activities include:  \n  \n• An annual Cultural Season (lectures, music concerts, forum, workshops, children’s programme, quarterly magazine/journal, quarterly newsletter, cultural expeditions)  \n• Travelling exhibitions and loans  \n• Conservation training programmes  \n• Research and excavation projects  \n  \nWith a highly specialised library, DAI is also involved in the publication of scholarly books on Islamic art and culture.  \n  \nWhile the rehabilitation project of DAI’s buildings at the Kuwait National Museum is underway, the Amricani Cultural Centre is the temporary home of DAI. The Amricani Cultural Centre is the ground for most of the organization’s activities and events, including local temporary exhibitions and DAI’s cultural season events.","city":"Kuwait City","address":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah  \nAmricani Cultural Centre  \nP.O. BOX: 23996 Safat 13100 Kuwait","website":"https://daralatharalislamiyyah.com/en/home-page-en/","phone":"+965 2240 0992","fax":"+965 2246 7770","email":"info@darmuseumkw.org"},"a05b0a22-d90a-5e08-85e3-53fd66868e26":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art","description":"The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) is a pioneering project spotlighting the cultural vision of the State of Qatar, both in the region and across the world. Under the guiding vision of His Excellency, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the project is the cornerstone for the State of Qatar in its establishment as a global capital of culture.  \n  \nThe 35,500 sq. m museum was designed by I.M. Pei, taking inspiration from the 13th-century *sabil* (ablutions fountain) of the 9th-century Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun in Cairo. The museum comprises a five-level main building and a two-storey Education Wing, connected across a fountain courtyard. The main building’s angular planes form ascending pinnacles, rising around an atrium. Inside, a dome is revealed, concealed from outside view by the walls of a central tower. A window on the building’s north side rises to a height of 54 m., providing dramatic views from all five floors. The ground floor is home to a temporary gallery space for touring international exhibitions and the café, giftshop and Information Services. The museum’s permanent exhibition is installed on two floors of galleries designed by the French firm Jean-Michel Wilmotte & Associés. The fourth floor contains temporary galleries showcasing the research topics of museum staff, using items either not seen in the permanent galleries or with new information to see them in a new way.  \n  \n**Overview of the collections**  \nThe MIA houses artefacts highlighting the creative achievements of the Islamic world's richest cultures and spanning nearly a thousand years. The collection represents the full scope of Islamic art in all media, from manuscripts to ceramics, metalwork, glass, stone, ivory, textiles, wood, precious stones and jewellery.  \n  \nThe permanent exhibition of *c.* 850 artefacts offers an insight into the diverse art of the Islamic world. Two floors are dedicated to the exploration of historical eras and interpretation of the themes of Islamic art and material culture, from the 8th century to the cusp of the 19th century.  \n  \nThe MIA also holds thousands more objects, some destined to be seen in future displays and others providing a resource for education and research.  \n  \nHighlights of the collection include: a distinguished group of carpets and textiles, a range of Ayyubid and Mamluk metalwork and enamelled glass, an outstanding strength in early ceramics, a comprehensive collection of astrolabes and scientific instruments, masterpieces of Mughal jewellery and rare manuscripts and miniatures.  \n  \n**The Department of Education and Information**  \nThe department’s main goal is to create materials, programmes and workshops that will engage the public, allowing them to explore the world through Islamic art, promoting a culture of learning within an atmosphere of knowledge and entertainment.  \n  \n**The Curatorial Department**  \nThe department of internationally trained curators is committed to studying, documenting and publicising the MIA’s collection and establishing the MIA as a world-class centre of scholarly research.  \n  \n**The Conservation Department**  \nSet to become a leading regional service centre for museums, the department is committed to restoring, preserving and caring for the collection through the application of innovative scientific methods.  \n  \n**International partnerships**  \nThe MIA is committed to building a network of partnerships around the world and offering institutes and museums collective access to information, research and images. It has strong ties with many world-class museums and collections, including the Louvre, France, the British Museum, UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA, the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Germany, the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, the Gulbenkian, Portugal, and the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art, Algeria.","city":"Doha","address":"Museum of Islamic Art roundabout, the Corniche  \nPostal Address: P.O. Box 2777  \nDoha, Qatar","website":"http://mia.org.qa/","phone":"+974 4422 4444","fax":"+974 4422 4447","email":"infomia@qma.org.qa; educationmia@qma.org.qa; librarymia@qma.org.qa"},"afffcb31-4567-5a53-ab82-c5452bdcf51e":{"name":"Karatay Madrasa Tilework Museum","description":"Karatay Madrasa was built in 1251 (649, H.) by Emir Celaleddin Karatay during the period of II. İzzettin Keykavus. Its architect is unknown. The madrasa, which was also used during the Ottoman era, was abandoned at the end of the 19th century. Karatay Madrasa, which holds an important place in the tile artefacts of the Anadolu Seljukid period, was opened to visitors in 1955 as the Tile Artefacts Museum.  \n  \nThe single-storied madrasa was built in the closed madrasa type in the Seljukid Era for *hadith* and *tafsir* education. Entering through the door, you arrive in a courtyard covered with a dome (now open), and from there you go through another door to the madrasa. The madrasa’s courtyard is covered by a dome with an opening to provide light and air, and is decorated with mosaic tiles. Short verses are written on the upper parts of the walls, on the dome pulley and on panels of cell doors.  \n  \nBasmala and Ayat-el Kursi inscriptions are located in the arches of the main house, through a tunnel vault to the west of the building. Triangles – transitional architectural elements of the dome – include the names of the prophets Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and David, and the names of the four caliphs: Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman and Ali. The domed cell to the left of the iwan is the tomb of Celaleddin Karatay.  \n  \nMost of the mosaic tiles that once covered the walls are gone. The colours of the remaining tiles are turquoise, dark blue and black.  \n  \nThe artefacts exhibited are from the Anatolian Seljukid and Ottoman periods. Tiles, plaster works, ceramic plates, candle holders and unglazed ceramics are exhibited in the chamber where the tomb of Celaleddin Karatay stands, and in the students’ cells to the south. The tiles from the Kubad-Abad Palace were made using lustre and underglaze techniques, and cross, semi-cross, eight-pointed star and square shapes.  \n  \nThe iwan contains tile remnants from the Seljukid era, and ceramics from the Seljukid and Ottoman periods. In the domed hall glass plates, tile pieces, ceiling fragments from Eşrefoğlu Mosque, and ceramics from the Ottoman era are displayed.","city":"Konya","address":"Alaeddin Meydanı  \nKonya, Turkey","phone":"+90 332 351 19 14","fax":"Not available"},"b01aedf8-4844-5526-8c45-e7dc4bd7a559":{"name":"Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation","description":"The Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation aims to display, interpret, research and further develop the museum's collections for a wide range of local, national and international audiences, and to stimulate knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of Islamic art, history, science and culture.  \n  \nThe magnificent building that houses the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation first opened in 1987 as the Souq al-Majarrah and quickly became a popular landmark, both among the people of Sharjah themselves and visiting tourists. The building was only the second of its kind in the Gulf region, after Sharjah’s “’New”’ or “Central’’ Souq constructed in 1977, to use traditional, Arab-Islamic design elements in its ground-plan and décor. The building with its impressive architecture and attractive design features was subsequently renovated and reopened in 2008 as the Museum of Islamic Civilisation. Its most outstanding feature is its majestic, gilt central dome, decorated on the inside with an intricate mosaic depicting the night sky and the signs of the zodiac.  \n  \nThe building now transformed into a state-of-the art cultural venue, the new **Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation**, houses more than five thousand exquisite Islamic artefacts from all over the Islamic World, arranged according to themes over seven spacious galleries and display areas.  \n  \nOn the ground floor you can visit the **Abu Bakr Gallery of Islamic Faith**, the **Ibn al Haitham Gallery of Islamic Science and Innovation**, a prominent display of **Islamic Coinage**, and the **Al Majarrah Gallery for temporary exhibitions** which is scheduled to hold regular exhibitions of international standing.  \n  \nThe entire first floor of the **Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation** is devoted to **Islamic Art**. Four spacious galleries take the visitor on a journey of artistic discovery which starts in the early Islamic period and leads all the way to modern times. Start your explorations with a visit to our state-of-the-art audiovisual show. Enjoy stunning images from all over the Muslim world and learn about the artistic achievements of its calligraphers and artisans.","city":"Sharjah","address":"Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation, Corniche Road, Al Majarrah Area, Sharjah.  \nPostal address: P.O.BOX 39939, Sharjah.","website":"https://www.sharjahmuseums.ae/","phone":"+97165655455","fax":"+97165652988","email":"info@islamicmuseum.ae"},"b43ae2c6-2060-5819-bd1c-dd9ca66b9f11":{"name":"Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)","description":"With 100,000 objects dating from ancient times to the present, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the western United States. A museum of international stature as well as a vital part of Southern California, LACMA shares its vast collections through exhibitions, public programs, and research facilities that attract nearly a million visitors annually.  \n  \nLACMA’s seven-building complex is located on twenty acres in the heart of Los Angeles, halfway between the ocean and downtown. The campus is undergoing a ten-year expansion and renovation known as the Transformation and designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop.  \n  \nLACMA’s collections encompass the geographic world and virtually the entire history of art. The museum houses a highly significant collection of Islamic art. These widely diverse arts, from an area extending from southern Spain to Central Asia, trace the distinctive visual imagination of Islamic artists over a period of fourteen hundred years. The collection consists of over 1,700 works, of which some 150 examples are on view; these include glazed ceramics, inlaid metalwork, enameled glass, carved wood and stone, and manuscript illustration, illumination, and calligraphy. Particular strengths of the collection are glazed pottery and tiles from Iran and Turkey; glass, especially from the late seventh to the mid-thirteenth century; and Persian and Turkish arts of the book.  \n  \nThe museum began to concentrate seriously on Islamic art in 1973, with the acquisition of the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, the generous gift of Joan Palevsky. Although the Heeramaneck collection forms the nucleus of the Islamic holdings, the focus and scope of the collection have developed considerably since 1973. Two important additions, both gifts, occurred in the 1980s. In 1985 the noted collector Edwin Binney, 3rd, bequeathed more than one hundred works, in particular examples of the arts of the book and ceramics of the Ottoman period. Approximately fifty glass objects, primarily of the early Islamic period, from Hans and Varya Cohn's splendid collection were given to the museum in 1988. The collection has been augmented further over the past two decades through gift and purchase, most notably the acquisition in 2002 of the Madina Collection of Islamic Art, made possible in large part by a generous gift from longtime LACMA benefactor and Trustee Camilla Chandler Frost. Its addition has created a new international focus on Los Angeles and on LACMA.","city":"Los Angeles","address":"5905 Wilshire Boulevard  \nLos Angeles, CA 90036","website":"http://www.lacma.org/","phone":"323 857 6000","email":"publicinfo@lacma.org"},"b4586981-2102-51f3-a3a7-5094a3b23509":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Numismatic Museum of the al-Maghreb Bank**  \nRabat, Morocco  \n  \n**National Library**  \nRabat, Morocco  \n  \n**Badi Palace**  \nMarrakesh, Morocco  \n  \n**Royal Library**  \nRabat, Morocco  \n  \n**Ethnographic Museum**  \nTetouan, Morocco  \n  \n**Archeological Museum**  \nTetouan, Morocco  \n  \n**Museum of Ceramics**  \nSalé, Morocco  \n  \n**Kasbah Museum**  \nTangiers, Morocco","city":"Rabat, Marrakech, Tetouan, Salé, Tangiers"},"b49b6caf-2037-5450-9920-62d736638529":{"name":"Madaba Archaeological Museum","description":"This museum was founded in 1974 in one of the old houses of Madaba that was purchased by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and transformed into a museum.  \n  \nThis museum holds artefacts and finds that have been recovered during excavations in many archaeological sites in Madaba region. These artefacts consist mainly of pottery and glass vessels, metalwork, coins and mosaic floors. Their dates range from the Iron Age to the Islamic periods.","city":"Madaba","address":"P.O.B. 12  \nMadaba, Jordan","phone":"+962 5 3244189","fax":"+962 5 3244189"},"c0c2fa4f-c38c-578e-8cc1-4703cc60b8a9":{"name":"Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts","description":"The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts was the first museum in Turkey to bring together works of Islamic art. It was founded in 1914 as the Museum of Islamic Foundations and housed in the Imaret building of the Süleymaniye Complex, built by the great Turkish architect Sinan in the 16th century. The museum was renamed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts after the declaration of the republic and moved to its present location in the 16th-century Ibrahim Paşa Palace in 1983.  \n  \nThe core collection of the museum comprises Islamic artworks collected from across the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. These works include carpets, manuscripts, metalwork, glassware, ceramics, woodwork and ethnographic materials. The collection represents an extensive period ranging from the rise of Islam to the 20th century and the vast geographical area ruled by the Ottoman Empire.  \n  \nThe carpets, numbering some 1,700, in their quality and variety constitute one of the most important collections of carpets in the world, so that the museum is sometimes thought of as a carpet museum. But the museum also has other outstanding collections: the manuscripts collection represents all the ruling Islamic states from the AH 1st / AD 7th century to the 20th century across a wide geographical area. The metalwork collection allows visitors to follow the development of Turkish metalwork in Anatolia and the rich collection of woodwork ranges from the AH 3rd / AD 9th century to the Ottoman period. The glassware and pottery collections include artefacts recovered during excavations at renowned Abbasid centres such as Samarra and Keshan (Iran) and Raqqa (Syria) as well as artefacts from the Anatolian Turkish period. The stonework, most bearing inscriptions, includes examples from the Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk, Seljuq and Ottoman periods. The ethnographic department is the newest section.  \n  \nThe museum also organises, hosts and participates in temporary national and international exhibitions.  \n  \nAfter the grand restoration works The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts re-opened in April 2014, exactly 100 years after its foundation, with special exhibitions to celebrate its hundredth anniversary.","city":"İstanbul","address":"İbrahim Paşa Sarayı Atmeydanı Sok. No: 46  \nSultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey","website":"https://muze.gen.tr/muze-detay/tiem","phone":"+90 212 518 18 05 / 06","fax":"+90 212 518 18 07","email":"tiem@tiem.gov.tr"},"c437d47d-865a-58fa-982d-c7443c17820b":{"name":"Aqaba Archaeological Museum","description":"This museum is located in the former house of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, which was acquired from the local government by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in 1979 and was opened to the public in 1990. The museum includes artefacts from excavated sites in the Aqaba district; they range in date from the mid-7th millennium BC to the beginning of the AD 12th century. Particularly important are the ceramic and steatite vessels excavated from Islamic Ayla (Aqaba), which include glazed- and lustrewares from Iraq and Egypt as well as celadons from China.","city":"Aqaba","address":"P.O.B. 971  \nAqaba, Jordan","phone":"+962 3 2019063","fax":"+962 3 2022023"},"c4647cf3-9e83-5e5e-9a5b-4af7ed883bb1":{"name":"The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts","description":"The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts (The Khanenko Museum) keeps the key national collection of world arts in Ukraine. It was established in 1919 on the basis of rich private collection of art and antiquities made up by a couple of outstanding Ukrainian art amateurs, collectors and philanthropists Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko. The historical private mansion of the Khanenkos, built in late 1880s, is a particular object of interest and fascination due to its exquisite stylised interiors.  \n  \nToday the museum holds more than 25 000 works of painting, sculpture, prints as well as various kinds of applied arts of Europe (14th -19th century), Western, Central and Eastern Asia (3rd century BC – 20th century) and the Ancient World (4th millennium BC – 4th century). The world-famous rarities, four oldest Byzantine “Sinai” icons from 6th and 7th centuries, are an important part of the museum collection and display.  \n  \nThe museum permanent exhibition area is about 1300 m2. There are also two halls for temporary exhibitions with total area of 150 m2 that host Ukrainian and international museum art projects. In coming years the museum plans to enlarge its exhibition, educational, and depository areas by adding a new contemporary building in the yard.  \n  \nBeing the leading Ukrainian institution of informal education the Khanenko museum offers a wide spectrum of programs for adults, youth and children, visitors with disabilities. A new accessible official museum website in Ukrainian and English is currently under development planned to be launched in November 2019.","city":"Kyiv","address":"Tereshchenkivska Street 15-17  \n01004","website":"https://www.khanenkomuseum.kiev.ua/en/main","phone":"+38044 2350206","fax":"+38044 2350206"},"c8825cec-041d-5069-bbce-82c394d5e619":{"name":"National Museum Oman","description":"The National Museum of the Sultanate of Oman, established by royal decree in 2013 and opened July 30, 2016, is the Sultanate's flagship cultural institution, showcasing the nation’s heritage from the earliest human settlement in the Oman Peninsula some two million years ago through to the present day. As a national institution with global outreach, the museum is dedicated to ensuring that Oman’s cultural heritage is understood and appreciated not only within the Sultanate, but also internationally. Further, it aims to provide opportunities for cultural expression, innovation, and the transfer of traditional skills and knowledge from one generation to the next.  \n  \nThe museum is located in the heart of Muscat in a purpose-designed building. The total area of the building is 13,700 square metres (147,000 sq ft), including 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) allocated for 14 permanent galleries – The Land and the People Gallery, Maritime History Gallery, Arms and Armour Gallery, Aflaj Gallery, Currency Gallery, Prehistory and Ancient History Galleries, Splendours of Islam Gallery, Oman and the World Gallery, Intangible Heritage Gallery and Renaissance Gallery, among others. A further 400 square metres (4,300 sq ft) are allocated for temporary exhibitions.  \n  \nThe National Museum houses 5,466 objects and offers 43 digital immersive experiences, a fully equipped Learning Centre, conservation facilities, an ultra-high definition cinema, and discovery areas for children. It features an integrated infrastructure for special needs and is the first museum in the Middle East to adopt Arabic Braille script for the visually impaired. The museum contains a voluminous collection of prehistoric metallic artefacts. It also houses the region’s first open-plan museum storage concept, where visitors can learn about the various processes that artefacts go through before they are put on display.","city":"Muscat","address":"P.O.Box: (1105)  \n113 Muscat","website":"https://www.nm.gov.om/","email":"booking@nm.gov.om"},"c9284900-9055-5081-9abe-863fad506cdc":{"name":"‘Ajlun Castle Museum","description":"This small museum was established in 1993 and renovated in 2003. It is located inside ‘Ajlun Castle. The artefacts displayed in the museum are limited to finds from ‘Ajlun district and date from the Neolithic to the Islamic periods. The collection consists mainly of pottery vessels, glass bottles, stone tools, metalwork, coins and inscriptions found in and around the castle.","city":"‘Ajlun","address":"P.O.B. 86  \n‘Ajlun, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 6420206","fax":"Not available"},"ce4d8147-795e-5a50-9c18-cf90561d29e5":{"name":"Rabat Archaeological Museum","description":"**Historical Description**  \n  \nWith 550 objects on display and thousands more in storage, the Rabat Archaeological Museum, founded in 1928, is one of the most prestigious national museums. It traces the history of Morocco from prehistoric times to the Islamic era. It is the culmination of a series of expansions and improvements that have made possible the inclusion of prehistoric, ancient and Islamic collections. A museum tour developed after renovations in 2003–04 highlights objects from excavations of the Almohad Tinmel Mosque and around the Koutoubia Mosque of Marrakesh.  \n  \n**Museum Collections**  \n  \nThe exhibits are displayed in three rooms, a patio and a garden.  \n  \n– On the ground floor, a chronological tour retraces the history of pre-Islamic Morocco: prehistoric civilisations, and then the Phoenician, Mauritanian and Roman eras, each represented by characteristic tools and objects.  \n  \n– Upstairs, the Islamic collections are organised by themes. Coins come from successive dynasties in Morocco. Ceramics display different techniques specific to the Islamic period, such *cuerda seca* (dry cord), stamping, metallic or polychrome glazes. Housing is represented both in its structural and decorative aspects: concrete work, but also murals, painted or engraved wood, capitals, trellises, stucco, and more.  \n  \n– The second themed section highlights antique marble statuary, with different artistic movements from Mauritania Tingitana (a Roman province). Prestigious works illustrate mythology and the history and public life of the Roman Empire: Venus, Theseus Slaying the Minotaur, Ephebe Pouring Drink, an imposing head of Juno, and busts of Juba II and Cato are among many pieces of inestimable scientific and aesthetic value.  \n  \n– The third section has a collection of inscriptions and rock carvings.  \n  \n*The Rabat Archaeological Museum is known today as the Museum of History and Civilisations.*","city":"Rabat","address":"23, rue Brihi  \nRabat, Morocco","phone":"+212 537 70 19 19"},"cf8ec428-5799-50a3-9650-91f330ba6493":{"name":"Dar Jamaï Museum","description":"The Jamai Palace was built in 1882 by Mokhtar bin Larbi Jamai, the grand vizier of the sultan Moulay Hassan I, according to an inscription in the reception hall. The French bought it in 1912, and they converted it successively into a hospital, a military court, and in 1920, into the “Museum of Indigenous Arts”, devoted to the handicrafts of Meknes and the surrounding mountainous Middle Atlas and Rif regions. Inspired by Spanish-Maghrebi design and decoration, Dar Jamai was created to meet the needs of private and public life.  \n  \n**Museum Collections**  \n  \nOn the ground floor, three rooms dedicated to ceramics from Fez and Tafilalet, ceramics from Meknes-Fez and painted and sculpted wood lead to the central patio. Two rooms formerly reserved for women also open onto the patio; one is dedicated to costumes and embroidery, the other to urban and rural jewellery.  \n  \nThe vizier’s private Moorish bath displays *hammam* objects such as wooden buckets, small brass containers, woolen gloves, and the like.  \n  \nThe room of old ironwork includes panels with keys, padlocks, knockers, chandeliers, locks, and a complete set of blacksmithing tools.  \n  \nPottery from the Rif region, Zarhoun pottery and metalwork are displayed in the former kitchens, while pavilions and corridors are decorated with various small carpets and manuscripts.  \n  \nThe textile room has two looms, tapestries and blankets.  \n  \nUpstairs, the bride’s room and the *koubba*, where the vizier received his distinguished guests – a sumptuous cupola decorated with terracotta tiles and stucco – is covered by a painted and carved cedar ceiling. This ceremonial salon with alcoves is furnished in the Makhzen tradition: brass, Rabat carpets, sofas, embroidered silks from Meknes, Rabat and Salé, velvets embroidered in gold, leather cushions, mosquito nets, and more.  \n  \nThe last room is devoted to weapons from the Rif, Souss and Tafilalet regions of Morocco.","city":"Meknès","address":"Place Hadim  \nMeknès, Morocco","phone":"+212 535 540 863","fax":"Not available"},"d077cb9e-6c63-5943-b0b0-ef3de9ccf2af":{"name":"Khalili Family Trust – Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","description":"In striving to provide a synoptic vision of the arts of the entire Islamic world, and since the 1970s, Professor Nasser D. Khalili has assembled his collection of Islamic art under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust. With holdings of more than 28,000 objects documenting the range of artistic production of the Islamic lands over a period of some 1400 years, the Collection now ranks among the best in the world and represents a new generation of Islamic art collections.  \n  \nThe Collection includes an outstanding array of manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an and of illustrated manuscripts, and the coverage of the decorative arts – ceramics, textiles, glass, metalwork and lacquer as well as seals and coins – is comprehensive.  \n  \nThe holdings of manuscripts and folios of the Holy Qur’an are the first to have been assembled systematically in order to illustrate the whole history of Qur’an production, both in terms of time span and geographical range – from the 8th to the 20th centuries, and from Morocco to China. Similar sequences have been assembled for painting and the decorative arts. Glass, ceramics and metalwork, for example, are represented in the full range of techniques from the pre-Islamic period through to the 19th century.  \n  \nLater Islamic art has been given the same level of attention. The wealth of important objects and manuscripts from later periods in the Collection shows that much art worthy of our attention on aesthetic as well as historical and intellectual grounds was produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Another important art form of this period is Islamic lacquer, represented in the Collection by more than 500 examples.  \n  \nThe catalogue of the Collection is an unprecedented 27-volume series, of which several are now published, and when completed will form a unique survey of the field to date. *Studies in the Khalili Collection* is a second series of publications related to the Islamic art collection, presenting more detailed analysis of certain objects.","city":"London","website":"http://www.khalilicollections.org","email":"info@nourhouse.com"},"d10f1d84-ce50-539f-aad0-624ff1d3e8c9":{"name":"Topkapı Palace Museum","description":"Topkapı Palace, the administrative and residential palace of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul, was completed by AH 882 / AD 1478 after the city had been conquered by Mehmed II. It was used continuously by the Ottoman rulers until they moved to the palaces built along the Bosphorus in the 13th / 19th century. After the declaration of the Republic of Turkey, the palace became a museum on 3 April 1924 by order of Atatürk.  \nThe palace became a grandiose, multi-functional structure through continual development and additional construction by different sultans, which also reflects the institutional structure of the Ottoman Empire. The splendour and multi-level structure of Ottoman protocol and hierarchy can clearly be seen in the architecture. Even the rise and the fall of the empire found its artistic expression in the palace. As well as being a stage for the dramatic events of the past, this palace is one of the few examples of its kind that survived along with its historical lifestyle.  \n  \nAmong the items exhibited in the museum are portraits and costumes of the sultans, Chinese and Japanese porcelains used in the palace, metal kitchenware, Yıldız porcelain and glassware, European porcelain and silver items, Islamic and Turkish weapons. Holy relics of Prophet Mohammed and the first caliphs that were brought from Medina in the early 10th / 16th century by Selim I are exhibited in the Holy Relics section. Among those relics are the mantle of the Prophet Mohammed, his swords and his foot print.  \n  \nFour thrones, aigrette-holders, the Topkapı dagger and the diamond of Kaşıkçı are the most famous examples of the items from the treasury of the Ottomans. The museum's archive holds important documents of correspondence of the Ottoman Sultans and its library contains famous manuscripts from the Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman periods.  \n  \nTopkapı Palace Museum operates under the Directorate of National Palaces of the Presidency of the Republic.","city":"Istanbul","address":"Sultanahmet  \nFatih, İstanbul, Turkey","website":"https://www.millisaraylar.gov.tr/en","phone":"+90 212 512 04 80; +90 212 236","fax":"+90 212 259 32 92","email":"info@ millisaraylar.gov.tr"},"d2b9c791-32d7-590a-9a1b-3f6766d360d6":{"name":"Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum (FBQ Museums)","description":"Founded in 1998 by H.E. Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum (FBQ) is the Sheikh’s brainchild and a monument to his enduring passion for collecting international items of peculiar and historical relevance.  \n  \nA museum with a global perspective, FBQ brings together over 30,000 objects from across the ages and a multitude of cultures. It represents, in effect, a modern version of a ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, the historic and eclectic room of marvels from the Renaissance.  \n  \nThe journey through more than 30 galleries ranges from the prehistoric to the present day, encompassing several themes: Islamic art, Qatari heritage, carpets, weapons, vehicles, jewellery and currency. Gallery highlights also include a rebuilt Syrian house and the Quran room. The artefacts showcased in FBQ’s galleries embody Islam’s visual culture and its far-reaching traditions from southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. The thematic presentation of the works draws attention to the similarities of artistic forms and cultural expressions and their interdependence among societies.  \n  \nFBQ is much more than a museum. Since the construction of the main museum in Al Shahaniya in 1998 using local stone and traditional turrets, FBQ has been fulfilling the museum founder’s aim to create and share a new cultural heritage for Qatar and beyond. With the establishment of the Carpet Museum in the heart of Doha in 2014 and the addition of the Car Museum, the FBQ complex of museums aims to inspire people to engage with cultural heritage by sharing stories from near and far. FBQ strives to foster cross-cultural dialogue through exhibitions, education and public programs, both locally and internationally.  \n  \nIn 2010, the museum was selected by Qatar’s Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Heritage as one of the cultural landmarks of the ‘Doha 2010 Capital of Culture’ activities.","city":"Doha","address":"Zone 80, Street 9999 Building No. 365, Al Samariya  \nAl Shahaniya, Doha Qatar  \nP.O. Box number 006","website":"www.fbqmuseum.org","phone":"+974 4486 1444","fax":"+974 4486 2555","email":"info@fbqmuseum.org"},"d9f6c12d-ca03-5d6e-b33c-c1a37daec1fa":{"name":"Glasgow Museums","description":"Although not the capital, Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland. It prides itself on its multi-cultural scene with a prosperous Muslim community representing the largest non-white Scottish group in the city and in Scotland. The Glasgow Museums collection is the biggest managed by any local authority in the United Kingdom and one of a handful of municipal collections that are recognized to have national importance. This service was founded in 1854 with the McLellan collection of European paintings, which was donated to the people of Glasgow by Archibald McLellan together with a building to house it. At present Glasgow manages thirteen public museums covering a wide range of subjects.  \n  \nGlasgow’s Islamic collections come from all over the world with objects from Africa, Spain, the Middle East and Central Asia. The oldest items date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The earliest objects to enter the museums’ collections were donated in the 1870s. Though many of these are private donations, some were purchased by the museum service. The Islamic collections are mainly housed at The Burrell Collection, The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  \n  \nThe main strength of the Islamic collections lies in the large donation of Sir William Burrell and his wife, who gifted their massive and varied collection to Glasgow in 1944. It includes Iranian and Mughal Indian ceramics and carpets, Turkish and Uzbek textiles and embroideries, and Hispano-Moresque lustrewares. The other Islamic collections of Glasgow Museums include objects from Mughal India, Fatimid and Mamluk Egypt and Syria, the Ottoman Middle East, and 19th century Berber and Arab North Africa. In addition to all of the above, Glasgow Museums is interested in developing its contemporary Islamic collections by welcoming donations of modern Islamic arts and crafts, as well as strengthening the other areas within its Islamic collections.","city":"Glasgow","address":"The Burrell Collection  \nPollok Country Park  \n2060 Pollokshaws Road  \nG43 1AT  \nGlasgow, United Kingdom","website":"http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/","phone":"+44 141 2872550","fax":"+44 141 2872597"},"dcd4bbe2-60f3-5f7f-8e3a-0eba386ac5bf":{"name":"Sidi Kacem al-Jalizi Museum","description":"Built during the 9th / 15th century by Sidi Kacem, the mausoleum has been transformed into a museum of ceramics. It consists of an entrance hall leading to a ceramics workshop, and to a patio surrounded by rooms and a funeral space. The courtyard galleries and alcoves have been converted into exhibition spaces for ceramic objects. This collection traces different eras of Muslim history in Tunisia, and also includes objects of Persian origin.  \n  \nCeramic objects dating back to the Aghlabid era can be identified by the use of metallic lustre, archaic Kufic script, and stylised zoomorphic and anthropomorphic drawings as decoration. The pieces dating back to the Fatimid period are illustrated with animated scenes in blue on a white background.  \n  \nHafsid ceramics are distinguished by the absence of illustrated scenes in favour of geometric motifs with floral decoration in which cobalt blue and manganese brown dominate. There are also ceramic tiles dating back to the Ottoman era, some of which are decorated with bouquets of flowers.","city":"Tunis","address":"Musée de Sidi Kacem Al-Jalizi  \nrue du 9 Avril  \nTunis, Tunisia","phone":"+216 71 321452","fax":"+216 71 562452"},"de2dbebd-e2b6-5434-b061-c35adc183958":{"name":"Udayas Museum (National Museum of Jewellery)","description":"**Historical Description**  \n  \nCreated in 1915, the Oudayas Museum is one of the oldest public museums in Morocco, along with the Batha Museum in Fez. The Oudayas Museum contains one of the largest museum collections in the country.  \n  \nA landmark in the history of Morocco, the Oudayas Casbah was originally a fort built by the Almoravids (10th–12th centuries) on the cliff overlooking the Bouregreg estuary. In the 12th century, under the Almohads, Abdelmoumen renovated the fort into a royal residence and defensive post in support of the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1609, Philip II of Spain expelled nearly one million Moriscos – descendants of Muslims who at that time were living in Spain under Christian rule. Among these were 2,000 Arabic-speaking Muslims, the Hornacheros, who settled in the Oudayas Casbah and established an independent republic that engaged in piracy. The turbulent history of the Bouregreg estuary ended with the Alaouite Sidi Mohammed bin Abdellah (1757–89).  \n  \nThroughout its history the Oudayas Casbah has been the site of major construction works, including Bab el-Kebir, the monumental Almohad gate; the rampart of the Alaouite sultan Moulay Rachid; and the princely residence of Moulay Ismaïl (1672–1727).  \n  \n**The Museum**  \n  \nBuilt in the former pavilions of the sultan Moulay Ismaïl, the Oudayas Museum is an Andalusian-inspired architectural masterpiece. Initially comprising private collections (Libert: ceramics, brass and carved wood; Besancenot: silver jewels), it has been continuously enriched by new acquisitions. All currently displayed collections of manuscripts, coins, astrolabes, clothing, carpets, cabinetry, weapons, and so on, are from the Islamic period.  \n  \nThe first room features silver and gold-plated jewellery from the High Atlas, Middle Atlas, Anti-Atlas and the Sahara. Two loggias house blue or polychrome enamelled ceramics from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Clothing and ceremonial accessories of city-dwellers follow, and finally there is a collection of gold ornaments of high aesthetic and historical value.","city":"Rabat","address":"Musée National des Bijoux (Ancien musée des Oudayas)  \nCasbah des Oudayas  \nRabat, Morocco","phone":"+212 537 731537","fax":"Not available"},"defa425b-fe47-5a8e-bb82-33721be61de9":{"name":"Batha Museum","description":"Built in 1885, the original building was a courthouse and summer residence of the Alaouite sultan Moulay Hassan I before being renovated as a museum in 1915. The Batha Museum brings together archaeological collections, architectural elements and ethnographic objects relating to the city of Fez and its surrounding area. Since a reorganisation in 2006, the museum’s theme has revolved around spiritual life and the art of living.  \n  \nThrough large rooms overlooking the patio and garden, the tour begins with the city’s Islamic origins: manuscripts illuminated with gold leaf, liturgical wooden objects, planispheric brass astrolabes – and a rare example of a leather astrolabe dial. One section is dedicated to architectural elements. Wood is featured: friezes, panels, lintels and other corbels from different dynasties display Moroccan craftsmanship. Besides their artistic value, some pieces are historical and archaeological treasures, such as the beam dating from AD 877, the oldest wood in Islamic Morocco, evidence of the city of Kairouan’s artistic influences.  \n  \nZelliges (handmade terracotta tiles) are a distinctive feature of Moroccan-Andalusian Islamic architecture, with excellent collections here in the Batha Museum, with some dating back to the 14th century.  \n  \nAlso on exhibit are traditional arts from Fez, whose richness and variety are manifested in a collection of delicate embroidery in a single thread colour, and a variety of ornaments and wedding dresses for brides typically from the cities. There is also a rich collection of tin-based ceramics enamelled in a monochrome blue-grey.  \n  \nVisitors can discover rural crafts and museum-quality objects like jewellery and pottery outside the city of Fez.","city":"Fès","address":"Ksar El Batha  \nPlace du 11 janvier  \nFès, Morocco","phone":"+212 53 563 41 16"},"e0396062-330b-5c15-8ec4-2f6f68e8b2c0":{"name":"Aga Khan Museum","description":"The Aga Khan Museum presents and collects art from historically significant Muslim civilizations as well as contemporary Muslim communities and diasporas around the world.  \n  \nThe Aga Khan Museum has three primary exhibition spaces. On the first floor, the Collections Gallery and Bellerive Room are dedicated to showcasing the Museum’s Permanent Collection. In the Collections Gallery, visitors can enjoy rotating displays of nearly 200 masterpieces reflecting a broad range of artistic styles and representing more than ten centuries of human history. In the Bellerive Room, visitors are invited to explore selections from the impressive ceramic collection of the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and Princess Catherine Aga Khan.  \n  \nThe core of its Permanent Collection — spanning a vast geographic area from Spain and North Africa in the west, across the Middle East, to South Asia and China in the east — was assembled by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003), uncle of His Highness, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV. Prince Sadruddin began acquiring works of art in the 1950s while studying at Harvard University. Together with his wife, Princess Catherine Aga Khan, he continued to collect throughout his lifetime. His Highness the Aga Khan and his family have supported and expanded Prince Sadruddin’s collection since his death. Today, it represents the foundation of North America’s first museum dedicated exclusively to Islamic arts, where it is enhanced by superb objects from the private collections of Prince Amyn and His Highness the Aga Khan as well as new acquisitions, special exhibitions, and a rich roster of performances and public programs.  \n  \nOn the second floor, the Aga Khan Museum presents several special exhibitions each year that feature works from the Museum alongside art from partner museums and installations by contemporary artists. These displays are complemented by performing arts programs, lectures, and workshops.","city":"Toronto","address":"77 Wynford Drive,  \nToronto, ON  \nCanada","website":"https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/"},"e4a45e50-1dd1-5680-88c5-cd761132d6ed":{"name":"Regional Gallery of Sicily - Abatellis Palace","description":"The Regional Gallery of Sicily showcases the evolution of the figurative arts within Palermo and Western Sicily from the 12th to 18th centuries. The palace that houses the museum was built in 1495 as the residence of Francesco Abatellis, Master of Sicily’s ports, and stands as an important representative of Gothic-Catalan architecture within the region. After the death of Abatellis, part of the building adjoining the palace was converted in 1527 into a convent for the Benedictine Nuns of the church of Santa Maria della Pietà. This was then later turned into a Dominican Monastery. During the Second World War, the palace sustained considerable bombing damage in 1943, leading to initiatives for its complete restoration. The museum was finally opened to the public on the 23rd of June 1954.  \n  \nThe present layout of the museum is the result of collaborative efforts between the curator Giorgio Vigni and the Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa throughout the years 1953-54.  \n  \nThe permanent museum exhibition is divided into two sections; sculpture is located on the ground floor whilst paintings are located on the upper floor.  \n  \nThe Gallery's collections come from acquisitions, donations and confiscations of property belonging to suppressed religious organisations. Before being grouped together in the current headquarters, these works were part of the Royal University Pinacoteca, then collections of the National Museum of Palermo. The works of Islamic art preserved in the Gallery come mainly from the city of Palermo where they were recovered during restoration works and architectural restructuring of the most important Arab-Norman sites. These include the Norman Palace (later the Royal Palace), the church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio called the Martorana, the church of San Giacomo la Mazzara (which no longer exists) and the Casa Maturano, a building adjacent to the church of Martorana. Other objects, particularly wood and ceramics, were purchased mainly from the Egyptian antiquities market by the then director of the Royal Museum, Antonio Salinas, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.","city":"Palermo","address":"Via Alloro, 4  \n90133  \nPalermo, Italy","website":"http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/palazzoabatellis/","phone":"+39 091 6230011","fax":"+39 091 6165305","email":"gall.abatellis@regione.sicilia.it"},"eb85e872-a703-5108-9494-d79d8afc80b8":{"name":"Austrian National Library","description":"**Austrian National Library**  \n  \nThe Austrian National Library is the home of one of the most important collections of manuscripts and rare prints in the world. Founded as the Habsburg court library in Vienna in the 16th century, it today houses various collections and museums ranging from papyri to modern Austrian literature.  \n  \nThe oldest surviving library catalogue, dated to 1576, already mentions Oriental manuscripts. In the early 17th century, their number increased thanks to the efforts of Sebastian Tengnagel (1603-1636), the library’s second prefect. He was a scholar of Oriental languages as well as an avid book collector, who bequeathed his collection to the court library. In the 19th century and especially during Moritz Graf Dietrichstein’s time as library prefect (1826-1845) the Oriental the collection started to grow again. A large number of manuscripts was acquired from the famous orientalist Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall. Other books found their way to Vienna through the hands of scholars and explorers like Eduard Glaser, who brought back 250 manuscripts from his expeditions to South Arabia (mainly modern day Yemen). Finally, in 2011, Franz and Edelgard Loibl donated their collection of manuscripts and prints, among them many oriental manuscripts, to the Austrian National Library.  \n  \n**Holdings**  \n  \nToday, there are around 3000 manuscripts in Arabic script in the library’s holdings: 1400 in Arabic, 1300 in Turkish and 300 in Persian.  \n  \nThere are five groups of shelf marks:  \n  \n• Cod. A. F.: Alter Fond, collection before the 19th century  \n• Cod. N. F.: Neuer Fond, collection Hammer-Purgstall  \n• Cod. H. O.: Historica Osmanica, Turkish history  \n• Cod. Mixt.: Codices mixti, newer acquisitions in Arabic script and different languages  \n• Cod. Gl.: Glaser Collection  \n  \n**Catalogues**  \n  \nAll manuscripts within Cod. A. F., Cod. N. F, Cod. H. O and Cod. Mixt. up to Cod. Mixt. 740 were catalogued by Gustav Flügel between 1865 and 1867:  \n  \nGustav Flügel, Die arabischen, persischen und türkischen Handschriften der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hofbibliothek zu Wien (1865-1867) Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 (with index).  \n  \nFor new acquisitions 1868-1968 in Arabic see:  \n  \nHelene Loebenstein, Katalog der arabischen Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek: Neuerwerbungen 1868-1968 1: Codices mixti ab Nr 744. (Museion N.F. 4, Bd. 3, Neuerwerbungen 1868-1968 T. 1, Wien 1970) online  \n  \nFor new acquisitions 1864-1997 in Turkish see:  \n  \nSmail Balić, Katalog der türkischen Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek : Neuerwerbungen 1864-1994 : mit einem Anhang: Bosnische Aljamiado-Handschriften (Ankara 2006)  \n  \nFor new acquisitions 1868-1994 in Persian see:  \n  \nAfšār Īraǧ, Fihrist-i dast-niwīshā-i fārsi dar kitābẖāna-i millī-i Utrīš wa āršīw-i dawlatī-i Utrīš dar Wiyan. Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the Austrian National Library and in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna (Teheran-Wien 2003)  \n  \nLater acquisition are mainly catalogued online: www.onb.ac.at  \n  \nFor illuminated Oriental manuscripts see the catalogues by Dorothea Duda  \n  \nDorothea Duda, Islamische Handschriften 1: Persische Handschriften (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters. Reihe I, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek Band 4/ Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Denkschriften 167, Wien 1983)  \n  \nDorothea Duda, Islamische Handschriften 2, Teil 1: Die Handschriften in arabischer Sprache (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters. Reihe I, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek Band 5, Teil 1 / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 229, Wien 1992)  \n  \nDorothea Duda, Islamische Handschriften 2, Teil 2: Die Handschriften in türkischer Sprache (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters. Reihe I, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek Band 5, Teil 2 / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 363, Wien 2008)","city":"Vienna","address":"Josefsplatz, 1  \n1015 Wien  \nAustria","website":"www.onb.ac.at","phone":"+43 1 534 10 0","fax":"+43 1 534 10 280","email":"onb@onb.ac.at"},"edb8cc68-6a7b-575f-9541-6421a991bf33":{"name":"Further Associated Museums","description":"**Hama Museum**  \nHama, Syria"},"ee0a71f8-dc12-5d5d-b02a-4402969e8274":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art","description":"The Museum of Islamic Arts of Kairouan is located in Raqqada, in a former presidential palace that was converted into a cultural and educational centre in 1986. It contains four rooms on the main floor and upstairs.  \n  \nOn the ground floor are:  \n– The ceramics room, which houses objects dating back to the Aghlabid, Fatimid and Hafsid eras. Those of the Aghlabid era are characterised by the use of metallic lustre glazes, archaic Kufic script and stylised zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images. This room displays a collection of blue Iznik ceramic tiles from Anatolia.  \n  \n– The hall of the Great Mosque, which houses religious objects such as friezes with floral and epigraphic motifs that form part of the roofing. There is also a reconstruction of the *mihrab* from the mosque and the door of the *maqsoura* (private enclosure).  \n  \n– The Lapidary Inscriptions Room, which is under development, will house flat, prismatic and column-barrel gravestones from the Kairouan Cemetery. It will also contain the inscription of the foundation of the city of Sabra al-Mansouriya, characterised by its writing style and its imposing size.  \n  \n\\- The Sabra al-Mansouriya Hall, expected to receive objects from the Sabra excavation, now contains the casting furnace found on the same site.  \n  \nUpstairs:  \nThe glass cases of the coin and jewellery room hold a large collection of coins dating back to the Aghlabid, Fatimid, Hafsid and Ottoman eras, showing their evolution over time. This room also contains glass objects from the Sabra site and the lantern from al-Mouiz.  \n  \nThe manuscript room contains a rich collection of parchment Qur’an folios from the library of the Great Mosque of Kairouan displaying the evolution of writing and ornamentation styles (3rd / 9th to the 13th / 19th century). The collection owes its unique reputation to the famous “blue parchment” of the 4th / 10th century. Enclosing these folios are leather bindings embossed with floral and geometric designs.  \n  \nAn exhibition such as this one helps us interpret the history of the city of Kairouan. The newer Sabra Hall, the Hall of Lapidary Inscriptions and the Hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan will further our understanding.","city":"Kairouan","address":"Musée des arts islamiques  \nKairouan-Raqqada","phone":"+216 77 228126","fax":"+216 77 228469"},"f0448341-50fd-5737-bf32-5fe7fdf30a77":{"name":"Museum of Jordanian Heritage","description":"This museum is located in the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at Yarmouk University; it was founded in 1984 and officially opened in 1988.  \n  \nThe main gallery consists of four rooms: the first room (Hunting and Gathering) deals with Jordan’s prehistory; the second (City State) focuses on the Bronze Ages, illustrated through graphics and drawings; the third room (East and West) deals with the history of material culture in the Hellenic, Roman and Byzantine periods; and the fourth room concentrates on Jordan in the Islamic periods. The second floor has special topics related to the history of technology, rural life and folklore. A new gallery of numismatics was added to the museum in 2002.","city":"Irbid","address":"Irbid, Jordan","phone":"+962 2 7211111-4465","fax":"Not available"},"f0c1b6b9-8198-5a97-9aea-8ebedfa90ca3":{"name":"Museum of Islamic Art","description":"At the order of Khedive Ismail Pasha in 1880 the collection of archaeological rarities from the Islamic era was begun in the mosque of Al- Hakim. The Council for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities, created in 1881 in association with the Ministry of Awqaf, supervised the House of Arab Antiquities, as it was then known, until 1930 when the museum was taken into the Ministry of Education.  \n  \nThe museum acquired only from mosques and public buildings in its first 20 years. Then it undertook its first excavation in 1910 in the vicinity of Doronka in Upper Egypt and a second excavation south of Cairo uncovering a section of the city of Fustat (first Islamic capital of Egypt).  \n  \nThe museum acquired many items through donations. King Fu’ad I gave a valuable collection of textiles, scales and seals as did King Farouk, Amir Muhammad Ali and Amir Yusuf Kamal. Amir Kamal al-Din Hussein, Yakub Artin Pasha and Ali Ibrahim Pasha also donated complete collections.  \n  \nThe collections, amounting to 7082 artefacts, were transferred to their current building, when the present museum was inaugurated in December 1903. In 1952, the name of the museum was changed to the ‘Museum of Islamic Art’ to reflect the scope of the collection: objects produced in the Islamic world and dating from the beginning of the Islamic era (AD 7th century) to the end of the AD 19th century. The number of recorded objects has now reached 103,000.  \n  \nThe collections include enamelled glass lamps, Egyptian ceramics and a rare collection of filigree waterpot filters of unpainted earthenware renowned for their lacework designs. There are also collections of woodwork, textiles and stones with inscriptions, while the collection of carpets is considered to be one of the greatest of its kind. Collections of scientific instruments display the extent to which Islamic civilisation has contributed to knowledge in many different fields. There is also an extraordinary collection of seals, weights, measures, gold, silver and copper coins.  \n  \nThe Museum of Islamic Art, having one of the most comprehensive and complete Islamic art collections in the world continues to develop and expand its collections and to modernise the building with its 25 halls, facilities and archaeological garden.","city":"Cairo","website":"https://www.miaegypt.org/","phone":"+20 2 2390 1520"},"f6a3053d-d710-547e-be54-96097d448f7a":{"name":"National Museum of Damascus","description":"The National Museum in Damascus was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Education in 1919. The original core of this museum's contents was initially kept at the Madrasa al-'Adiliya. The collection gradually increased and the discovery of the Umayyad palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi in the Syrian desert in 1936 further spurred into action plans for a newer and bigger museum. A building located next to Al-Takiyya al-Sulaymaniya was chosen for the establishment of the National Museum of Damascus.  \n  \nQasr Al-Hayr Al-Gharbi added new emphasis to the importance of devoting more attention to the Islamic period and the Directors of Antiquities decided to incorporate these palatial finds into the National Museum of Damascus. After much hard work and technical expertise, the front façade of the Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi was transposed and carefully reconstructed as the National Museum's main entrance. The side halls and the second floor were designated for the most important artistic finds of this early Islamic palace. The completion of the display took several years and the official opening was celebrated in 1950.  \n  \nIn 1953 a three-storey wing was added to house and display ancient oriental antiquities, the Islamic period, modern Syrian art, and temporary exhibitions.  \n  \nOne of the more recent extensions included three double halls for the Islamic period, a new lecture hall and a library. The lecture hall was furnished as a 19th-century Damascene reception hall, a masterpiece of late decoration and ornamentation in its own right. The opening of this extension took place in 1963.  \n  \nIn 1974 there were further additions, this time devoted to the Palaeolithic period. And lastly, in 2004, the temporary exhibition wing was transformed into a permanent collection of Neolithic antiquities.  \n  \nAt present, the National Museum of Damascus consists of the following sections:  \n  \n1\\. Palaeolithic.  \n2\\. Neolithic.  \n3\\. Ancient Syrian Oriental.  \n4\\. Classical.  \n5\\. Islamic.  \n6\\. Modern Arts.","city":"Damascus","address":"Qasr el-Heir Street  \nDamascus, Syria","phone":"+963 11 2234331","fax":"+963 11 2247983","email":"sam.orient@mail.sy"},"fa4acaf4-e4a9-5f92-8877-0946904fdbd3":{"name":"Silves Archaeological Museum","description":"Brief History  \n  \nInaugurated in 1990, the Silves Museum was built around the magnificent 12th-13th century Almohad well-cistern, which was discovered through archaeological excavations in the 1980s. The site is currently classified as a national monument and is the centrepiece of the Silves Museum’s permanent exhibition. The museum space also integrates the Almohad era city wall, making it not only a museum that exhibits a significant historical collection, but also a rare jewel of present day Portuguese Islamic heritage.  \n  \nSince its inauguration the museum has left its permanent collection, consisting of around 800 mostly ceramic objects, open to public viewing. The museum also contains a plethora of objects in reserve which were acquired through several archaeological excavations conducted throughout Portugal.  \n  \nCollection  \n  \nChronologically divided into five sections, the museum includes a collection of Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman era objects. Its collections are distinguished not just by the quantity but also by their exceptional quality and includes objects from the medieval Islamic periods. These constitute objects from the Umayyad Caliphate, the Taifa era, the Almoravid and the later Almohad dynasties, representing a long period of Islamic rule that ranged from the 8th to the 13th centuries CE. Due to the nature of the site, there is a strong representation of objects from the Almohad period between the 12th and 13th centuries, which attest to the richness and importance of Silves during this historic period.  \n  \nThe museum’s collection also exhibits a range of comparatively modern objects, from the 15th to the 17th centuries, which attest to the influential and complex network of trade routes between the city of Silves and other significant ports of the time.  \n  \nPublic Outreach  \n  \nThe museum has been developing a programme of temporary exhibitions from its own funds as a means to not only showcase certain presentations, but also strengthen cultural relations with countries that were historically linked to the municipality of Silves. Among these include projects with the Kingdom of Morocco.  \n  \nThe museum’s educational department plays a key role in the attraction and retention of the public awareness. This is done through prioritising communication with young audiences and providing them with tools that help interpret the museum’s archaeological collection.  \n  \nIt is through this approach that the pedagogic workshops were formed which, with the help of local artisans, offer a range of activities that help raise awareness towards the historic material culture showcased in the museum. These include pottery, ceramics, weaving and calligraphy. For other audiences who wish to experience a wider variety of themes, there are workshops centred on the local environment, heritage, playhouses, the sciences as well as tours that complement temporary exhibitions. Lastly, to stimulate further interest and promote the study of the collection, the museum has developed projects and activities with other international networks that have similar interests.","city":"Silves","address":"Rua Porta de Loulé, n. 14  \n8300-129  \nSilves, Portugal","website":"https://www.cm-silves.pt/pt/menu/547/museu-municipal-de-arqueologia-de-silves.aspx","phone":"+351 282 444 832","fax":"+351 282 440 856","email":"museu.municipal@cm-silves.pt"},"fea32901-ad4a-5972-8043-fd04f11ab0ee":{"name":"Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia","description":"Interest in Islamic art has grown enormously in recent years. Reflecting this awareness, in December 1998 Malaysia became home to Southeast Asia’s largest museum of Islamic art. The building occupies 30,000 square metres, situated amid the leafy surroundings of central Kuala Lumpur’s Lake Gardens.  \n  \nThe Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia houses more than ten thousand artefacts, as well as an exceptional library of Islamic art books. The art objects on display range from the tiniest pieces of jewellery to one of the world’s largest scale models of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. The aim is to create a collection that is truly representative of the Islamic world. Instead of concentrating on works from the heartlands of Persia and the Middle East, IAMM also puts the emphasis on Asia. China and Southeast Asia are especially well represented. The third component of the Malaysian melting pot is India, which is also given special status. India, China and the Malay World are in an exceptional category. Other parts of the collection are displayed according to type rather than geographical origins in the museum’s 12 galleries.  \n  \nIranian tile workers transformed the iwan-style entrance into a ceramic tapestry that frames a welcoming verse from the Qur’an. On the roof, these artisans turned the dome-construction traditions of Central Asia into the building’s crowning glory. The turquoise-coloured domes are now a landmark on the Kuala Lumpur skyline.  \n  \nInside the building, the angularity of 21st century design is contrasted with the soft, rounded forms of the five domes that dominate the museum’s interior. Laboured over by craftsmen from Uzbekistan, these imposing features help form an ambience that is both airy and harmony. The seamless continuity of light and space is maintained throughout the galleries and into other areas of the museum, such as the library and the restaurant.","city":"Kuala Lumpur","address":"Jalan Lembah Perdana  \n50480 Kuala Lumpur  \nMalaysia","website":"http://www.iamm.org.my","phone":"+603 20927070; +603 22742020","fax":"+603 22740529","email":"info@iamm.org.my"}}