Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV: “We don’t do enough to illustrate… the greatness of the Islamic civilisations”

Each year since 1977, the International Council of Museums has organised International Museum Day on May 18 or around this date. The objective is to raise awareness that, “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”
International Council of Museums

Aga Khan Museum
Dr Henry Kim, former CEO of Aga Khan Museum:
“…for His Highness the Aga Khan, it was actually a much deeper meaning behind this museum. He said ‘I don’t want this simply to be a repository of the arts. It’s there so that we can improve peoples’ understanding and appreciation of arts and culture of the Muslim world and by doing so, to understand who Muslims are and what exactly Islam is.’

Arts are one of the areas of neutral ground….Through arts…you get a better sense of people who used them, made them, commissioned them. Art is universal. All cultures have some form of art.

As you look through a museum’s collection, you start realising that cultural connections, cultural contexts, transmission of knowledge, all of these wonderful things we consider very much part of the modern world were alive and well hundreds of thousands of years ago.

With objects, you can tell stories that history books simply do not tell….”
Extracts from Dr Kim’s presentation, AKU Lecture series, Karachi, Pakistan, October 19, 2017

Bead, Egypt or Syria, 10th-11th century. Aga Khan Museum

Planispheric astrolabe, Spain (Historic al-Andalus) dated 1300s. Aga Khan Museum

Copper inlaid incense burner dated 11th century, eastern Iran. Aga Khan Museum

Plaque inscribed “Fatima al-Zahra.” Dated 17th century Iran. Aga Khan Museum

Fritware underglaze bowl, 13th century, Iran. Aga Khan Museum.

“Our hope is that the Aga Khan Museum will also be a centre of learning, of education, revealing the connections between the arts of Muslim civilisations and those of other civilisations, indeed between the arts of the different Muslim civilisations themselves. This dialogue – silent, musical, literary – is what binds us all together in a common cultural heritage that we share.”
Prince Amyn
Opening remarks,  Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada, May 11, 2017
Speech
Video

“We don’t do enough to illustrate to the peoples of our world the greatness of the Islamic civilisations, of cultures of the past.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Aleppo, Syria, August 28, 2008
AKDN Press Release

Mawlana Hazar Imam walks through Aleppo’s citadel after the inauguration ceremony of the completion of the restoration of the Citadel of Aleppo by AKTC. He is accompanied by Prime Minister, Muhammad Naji Al-Otri and Mr Seifo, AKDN Syria’s Resident Representative. Photo: AKDN / Gary Otte