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 Exterior view of the Aga Khan Museum | |
  Location of the museum in Toronto | |
| Established | September 18, 2014 (2014-09-18) |
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| Location | 77 Wynford Drive Toronto,Ontario, Canada |
| Coordinates | 43°43′31″N79°19′56″W / 43.72528°N 79.33222°W /43.72528; -79.33222 |
| Type | Muslim arts andculture |
| Collection size | 1,000 |
| Director | Dr. Ulrike Al-Khamis |
| Chairperson | Amyn Aga Khan[1] |
| Public transit access |  100 34C   Aga Khan Park & Museum |
| Website | www |
TheAga Khan Museum is a museum ofIslamic art located in theNorth York district ofToronto, Ontario, Canada.[2] The museum is dedicated to Islamic art and objects, and it houses approximately 1,200 rare objects assembled byShah Karim al-Husayni and PrinceSadruddin Aga Khan. As an initiative of theAga Khan Trust for Culture, an agency of theAga Khan Development Network, the museum is dedicated to sparking wonder, curiosity, and understanding of Muslim cultures and their connection with other cultures through the arts. In addition to the Permanent Collection, the Aga Khan Museum features several temporary exhibitions each year that respond to current scholarship, emerging themes, and new artistic developments. The Museum Collection and exhibitions are complemented by educational programs and performing arts events.
For many years the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of ShiaIsmaili Muslims, was planning to build a major museum for Islamic art and artifacts that aligned with the Ismaili community's mission to offer new perspectives into Islamic civilizations by weaving together cross-cultural threads throughout history. The location in Don Mills, Toronto, Canada, was confirmed in 2002, after protests blocked a $60-million[a] offer for a site on the River Thames across from the British Houses of Parliament.[3] The Aga Khan then chose Canada as a tribute to the country's pluralism.[4]
The Aga Khan bought the formerBata Shoes Head Office, a building that was adjacent to the Ismaili Centre, which was already under construction. Designed by modernist architectJohn B. Parkin, the building was demolished in 2007 after it was determined to be unsuitable for the museum. The new structure was designed byPritzker Prize winnerFumihiko Maki. It also shares the 6.8-hectare space with public gardens created by Lebanese landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic.
The foundation-laying ceremony for the project was performed byCanadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper and the Aga Khan on May 28, 2010.[5]
While a permanent home was being built for the collection, selected items went on tour in Europe. Exhibitions took place at the following institutions:
The exhibits received wide international acclaim.[8][16] The exhibit conveys bothDīn andDunya, which can be translated as 'Spirit' and 'Life'—the religious and secular aspects of life which are inextricably linked inMuslim cultures.[9] The first exhibitions were organized in two parts:The Word of God consisting of sacred texts and related objects andThe Power of the Sovereign reflecting Muslim courts and their figures. More recent exhibitions have been organized asThe Word of God andThe Route of the Travellers showing the geographic breadth of the Islamic world.
The Aga Khan Museum opened to the public on September 18, 2014.[17] Michael Brand served as the museum's first director and CEO, followed by Henry Kim from 2012 to 2020. Prince Amyn Aga Khan was appointed the new chairman of the board effective May 18, 2016. The role was previously held by his brother, the Aga Khan.
In 2016, RGD InHouse Design presented the Award of Distinction to the Aga Khan Museum for the exhibition Home Ground: Contemporary Art from the Barjeel Art Foundation (July 25, 2015 – January 3, 2016).[18]
The director of collections and public programs, Dr. Ulrike Al-Khamis, began her appointment on September 1, 2017. Dr. Al-Khamis was appointed director and CEO in 2021.[19] In 2017, the Aga Khan Museum Shop also launched an online shopping platform.[20] Most items online and onsite were commissioned exclusively for the Aga Khan Museum. In many instances, the items—jewellery, books, clothing, artwork, and more—are connected to the Aga Khan Museum's temporary exhibitions as well as its Permanent Collection.
The Aga Khan Museum was recognized as one of the best museums in Toronto by Conde Nast Traveler in 2018.[21] In the same year, the Aga Khan Museum's exhibition, The World of the Fatimids, received a Global Fine Art Award in the Ancient Art (BC – 1200) category, and an honourable mention in the Global Humanity category for the 2017 exhibition, Skate Girls of Kabul.[22] In June 2018, Sri Lankan-born chef Shen Ousmand launched a new menu at the Aga Khan Museum's restaurant Diwan.[23] The McEwan Group, led by ChefMark McEwan, has been at the helm of the museum's food services since 2016.
Opened in 2026, theToronto Transit Commission'sEglinton Crosstown LRT has an Aga Khan Park & Museum stop.
Designed byPritzker Prize-winning architectFumihiko Maki, the Aga Khan Museum shares a 6.8-hectare (17-acre) site with Toronto'sIsmaili Centre, which was designed by Indian architectCharles Correa. The surrounding landscaped park was created bylandscape architect Vladimir Djurovic and is a contemporary interpretation of the Islamic courtyard—theCharbaag.
The museum is home to galleries, exhibition spaces, classrooms, a reference library, an auditorium, and a restaurant. It houses a permanent collection of over 1,000 objects including rare masterpieces of broad range of artistic styles and materials representing more than ten centuries of human history and geographic area.
Commissioned by the Aga Khan, the museum building and the spaces around were designed to be seen as a celebration and mysteries of light. Therectilinear building is oriented forty-five degrees to solar north where all its sides are exposed to the sun. The form has been chiseled to create a concaved angular profile that is also a natural expression of the two-level building. Clad in sandblasted white Braziliangranite, the surfaces of the building are set in motion in a constant interplay with the sun in light and deep shadows. The effect is similar to asundial.[24]
Within the building, there is a courtyard intended as a peaceful sanctuary. The courtyard's glass walls are imprinted with a double-layered pattern that creates a three-dimensional effect recalling the traditional IslamicJali screens. The light from the courtyard moves patterned shadows on the soffits, walls and floor of the grand cloister. Up above on the second level, four large openings overlook the public spaces through a cast zinc screen in the form of a contemporaryMusharabiya, an Islamic bay window. Within the galleries, large aluminum paneled skylights perforated with small hexagonal openings emit soft natural light into the exhibition areas.
The Aga Khan Museum is dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, display and interpretation of artifacts relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious traditions ofMuslim communities, past and present. Artifacts includeceramics,metalwork, and paintings covering all periods ofIslamic history.Manuscripts in the collection include the earliest known copy ofAvicenna'sQanun fi'l-Tibb ("The Canon of Medicine") dated 1052.[9]
The museum will become a repository of historical materials related to the Ismaili community and house research programs related to each one of the aspects of its institutional mission. It will also provide a space for permanent exchanges between the Islamic and the Western worlds on educational, cultural and socio-economic issues.[citation needed]
The collection, which comprises some 1,000 objects,[25] includes several superb examples ofQur'an manuscripts that demonstrate the variety of script, media and decorative styles that evolved in the Muslim world. Among them, an eighth centuryNorth African folio demonstrates the earliest style ofKufic script written onparchment. A page from the well-knownBlue Qur'an provides an example of gold kufic script on indigo-dyed parchment. The Blue Qur'an is considered one of the most extraordinary Qur'an manuscripts ever created; its origins are 9th-tenth century North African, and it was likely created for theFatimid caliphs ruling fromQayrawan.[9]
Located on the main floor of the museum, the Bellerive Room displays a selection from the ceramics collection of the latePrince Sadruddin Aga Khan and Princess Catherine Aga Khan.[26] The room is a recreation of the "La Chambre Persane," or "Persian Salon," in their home,Château de Bellerive in Geneva, Switzerland, where part of the collection was originally on display. There are approximately 60 ceramic objects on view in the Bellerive room. They date from the early Islamic periods through to the 17th century. Their styles reflect the innovative technological and aesthetic contributions of Islamic potters through the ages, which were often in dialogue with influences from as far afield as China and Europe.
In 2018,Big Heech, by Iranian-Canadian sculptorParviz Tanavoli, was installed at the museum entrance. The sculpture was a corporate donation in honour of the Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubilee.[27]
The exhibition titled 'Don't Ask Me Where I'm From' is in partnership with Fondazione Imago Mundi.[28][29] The project channels the experiences of artists who are first, second, and third-generation immigrants–a growing body of people raised in a culture other than their parents–in a series of several works exploring cross-cultural artistic realities.[30]
The exhibition titled 'Sanctuary' showcases immigrants' experience using rugs as a medium to share narratives to demonstrate stories, histories, place, and purpose. The exhibition comprises the work of thirty-six artists from twenty-two countries creating rug designs. The designs were woven into the rugs by artisans in Lahore, using traditional techniques to create each piece of art. Artists of this exhibition includeAi Wei Wei.[31]
The exhibition titled ’50 Years of Migration' commemorates over 50 years of immigration of Shi’a Imami Ismaili Muslims to Canada, the people for which His Highness the Aga Khan serves as spiritual leader. The travelling exhibition integrates family photographs, first-hand accounts, historical documents, and personal interviews that "showcase the courage and resilience of the countless Ismaili Muslims who fled their homelands in search of refuge." With stories of Canadian Ismailis fromUganda,Afghanistan,Syria,Tajikistan,India,Pakistan and elsewhere, it is presented by the Aga Khan Council for Canada in collaboration with award-winning Canadian artistAquil Virani.
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