İstanbul hosting treasures from Aga Khan Museum

A select collection of artwork from the Islamic world went on public view yesterday at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in İstanbul, offering museum-goers a chance to discover how art evolved through the centuries in the Islamic world.

“Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum,” an impressive selection from the Aga Khan Museum collection, is being displayed in a country with a predominantly Muslim population for the first time since it set out on its journey covering numerous European cities in 2007.

The collection, brought to İstanbul within the framework of the city’s European Capital of Culture program, was previously showcased in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin and Lisbon.

It is also for the first time in the exhibit’s three-year history that the artifacts on display will not be a general presentation of highlights from the collection, but one that brings together examples of the written word on a variety of objects such as ceramics, wood, metalwork, textiles, etc., with their counterparts on parchment and paper.

A total of 156 objects -- dating from a 1,000-year period between the years 800 and 1800 -- are being presented in the İstanbul exhibition, curated by Benoit Junod.

“What we experienced following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was not a ‘clash of civilizations’ but a ‘clash of ignorance.’ Unfortunately the Western world is not fully knowledgeable of the Islamic world. Mankind fears and reacts to things he doesn’t know. In my opinion, we first have to get rid of this cloud of obscurity [around Islam] in order to break the prejudices toward Islam,” the curator told reporters during a preview of the exhibition for the media earlier in the week.

The exhibition seeks to highlight the importance of the written word and the Quran, showing how the art of the book -- in calligraphy, illumination and illustration -- evolved over time in the Islamic world.

The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of 20 million Shia Ismaili Muslims. The exhibition is part of a collection totaling roughly 1,000 pieces, whose permanent home in Toronto, the Aga Khan Museum, designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, is set to open in mid-2013.

The İstanbul exhibition will continue until Feb. 27 at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, which is located in a historic mansion owned by the Sabancı family overlooking the Bosporus in Emirgan. Visiting hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday. Closed on Mondays.
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