Agha Khan museum
Aga Khan Museum of Islamic art to open Friday in Toronto
The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, September 11, 2014
TORONTO — A $300-million showcase complex that includes the first North American museum devoted to Islamic art opens Friday, an initiative of the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims.
The complex, designed by some of the world’s top architects, aims to foster knowledge and understanding among Muslims as well as between Islamic societies and other cultures.
Located on 6.8-hectares, the museum building with its open-air, glassed-in courtyard is linked via a landscaped park featuring five granite reflecting pools to a cultural religious centre dominated by a towering glass roof over its prayer hall.
The Aga Khan, the community’s 49th hereditary imam, is also a wealthy philanthropist who, along with members of the faith, bankrolled the new complex.
Despite the close association with Ismailism — part of the Shia branch of Islam — the museum intends to reflect the diversity of cultural expressions within Islam, Damji said as workers put the final touches to the interior and exterior elements this week.
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Categories: Americas, Highlight, MUSLIM HERITAGE, Muslim Heritage