Aga Khan Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Aga Khan Museum

Musée Aga Khan
Exterior view of the Aga Khan Museum
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Established	September 18, 2014 (2014-09-18)
Location	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Type	Muslim arts and culture
Collection size	1,000
Public transit access	100   34C  Aga Khan Park & Museum (opening 2024)

The Aga Khan Museum (French: Musée Aga Khan) is a special place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It's a museum dedicated to Islamic art and objects. The museum holds about 1,200 rare items collected by Shah Karim al-Husayni and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan.

This museum wants to help people learn about Muslim cultures and how they connect with other cultures. It does this through art. Besides its main collection, the museum also has new exhibits each year. These shows explore new ideas and art. The museum also offers fun educational programs and live performances.

History

Building the Museum

The Aga Khan Foundation bought the Bata Shoes Head Office building in 2002 to prepare for the museum's construction.

For many years, the Aga Khan wanted to build a big museum for Islamic art. He is the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims. He wanted the museum to share new ideas about Islamic civilizations. It would show how different cultures have connected throughout history.

In 2002, the location in Toronto, Canada, was chosen. The Aga Khan picked Canada because it welcomes many different cultures. He bought an old building, the Bata Shoes Head Office. It was next to the Ismaili Centre, which was already being built.

The old building was taken down in 2007. It wasn't right for the museum. A famous architect named Fumihiko Maki designed the new building. The museum shares its space with beautiful public gardens. These gardens were designed by Vladimir Djurovic.

The building project officially started on May 28, 2010. The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Aga Khan were there.

Art on Tour

While the museum was being built, some of its art went on a tour in Europe. This allowed people to see the collection before the museum opened. The art was shown in famous places like the Louvre in Paris and The Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

These exhibits were very popular around the world. They showed both the spiritual and everyday parts of Muslim culture. Early shows focused on holy texts and royal courts. Later shows explored holy texts and the journeys of travelers. This showed how widespread the Islamic world is.

Opening Day

The museum's lobby in 2022. The museum building opened to the public in 2014.

The Aga Khan Museum opened its doors to the public on September 18, 2014. Since then, it has won several awards for its exhibitions. For example, in 2016, it won an Award of Distinction for its "Home Ground" exhibition.

In 2018, the museum was named one of the best museums in Toronto. Its exhibition "The World of the Fatimids" won a Global Fine Art Award. Another exhibition, "Skate Girls of Kabul," also received an honorable mention.

The museum also has a shop where you can buy unique items. Many of these items are made just for the museum. They are often linked to the museum's exhibits or main collection. In 2024, a new subway stop will open near the museum. This will make it even easier to visit!

Architecture

Auditorium ceiling

The Aga Khan Museum was designed by Fumihiko Maki, a famous architect. It shares a large 6.8-hectare (17-acre) area with the Ismaili Centre in Toronto. The beautiful park around them was designed by Vladimir Djurovic. It looks like a modern version of a traditional Islamic courtyard, called a Charbaag.

The museum building has galleries, spaces for special shows, classrooms, and a library. It also has an auditorium and a restaurant. Inside, you can find over 1,000 objects. These items show different art styles and materials from over ten centuries of human history.

The museum building was designed to celebrate light. It is a straight-lined building that faces the sun. This means all its sides get sunlight. The building's white Brazilian granite surfaces play with light and shadows. This creates a cool effect, almost like a sundial.

The interior courtyard of the museum is surrounded by glass walls imprinted with a pattern reminiscent of traditional Islamic Jali screens.

Inside the museum, there is a peaceful glass courtyard. Its glass walls have a special pattern. This pattern looks like traditional Islamic Jali screens. Light from the courtyard creates moving shadows on the walls and floor. On the second floor, there are four large openings. They look out over the public spaces through a metal screen. This screen is like a modern Musharabiya, which is an Islamic bay window. In the galleries, skylights let in soft, natural light.

Collection

Works from the museum's collection are displayed in exhibits throughout the museum.

The Aga Khan Museum collects, protects, and shows items related to Muslim communities. These items cover their ideas, culture, art, and religious traditions from the past and present. The collection includes ceramics, metalwork, and paintings. These pieces cover all periods of Islamic history.

One very old item is a copy of Avicenna's "The Canon of Medicine." It is a famous medical book from 1052. The museum also has many beautiful Qur'an manuscripts. These show different writing styles and decorations from the Muslim world. For example, there's an eighth-century page from North Africa. It shows the earliest style of Kufic script on parchment.

Another amazing piece is a page from the "Blue Qur'an." This page has gold Kufic script on dark blue parchment. The Blue Qur'an is one of the most special Qur'an manuscripts ever made. It comes from 9th or 10th century North Africa. It was likely made for the Fatimid rulers.

On the main floor, you can visit the Bellerive Room. This room displays a selection of ceramics. These were collected by the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and Princess Catherine Aga Khan. The room is a copy of their "Persian Salon" from their home in Switzerland. There are about 60 ceramic objects in this room. They show how Islamic potters were creative and used ideas from places like China and Europe.

Selected temporary exhibitions

The exhibition "Don't Ask Me Where I'm From" showed the experiences of artists who are immigrants. These artists grew up in a culture different from their parents. Their art explored what it's like to live between different cultures.

The "Sanctuary" exhibition used rugs to tell stories of immigrants. Artists from many countries designed rugs. These designs were then woven by artisans using traditional methods. Each rug shared a story about history, place, and purpose.

The "50 Years of Migration" exhibition celebrated over 50 years of Ismaili Muslims coming to Canada. It showed family photos, personal stories, and historical papers. The exhibition highlighted the bravery of many Ismaili Muslims. They left their homes to find safety in Canada. Their stories came from places like Uganda, Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan.

See also

• Aga Khan Park
• The Ismaili Centre, Toronto
• Aga Khan Trust for Culture
• Aga Khan Development Network
• List of museums in Toronto