Culture, Mawlana Hazar Imam has stressed, can provide a discourse for “enlightened encounters amongst faiths and cultures”. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s Museums and Exhibitions initiative is dedicated to presenting Islamic arts and culture in their historic, cultural and geographical diversity, and to foster knowledge and understanding both within Muslim societies, and between these societies and other cultures.
Over the course of the Golden Jubilee year, art and artifacts from the permanent collection of the future Aga Khan Museum in Toronto have been exhibited in Parma, London, Paris and Lisbon. The “Spirit and Life” Exhibition at the Ismaili Center, London, was opened on 12 July, 2007, by Mawlana Hazar Imam, in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. In his remarks, Mawlana Hazar Imam said that culture is deeply intertwined with matters of the faith for all Muslims, and that at a time when there is a “clash of ignorance”, the ability to “honor authentic symbols of pride and identity – and to share their beauty and their power with one another – can be a tremendous force for good.”
A similar exhibition of works from the Aga Khan Museum’s collection was displayed at the Louvre from October 2007 to January 2008. In his closing remarks at the “Musée-Musées” Round Table at the Louvre, Mawlana Hazar Imam said that the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto will show the “inherent pluralism of Islam, not only in terms of religious interpretations but also of cultural and ethnic variety” and that “Islam is in reality an open-minded, tolerant faith capable of adopting other people’s cultures and languages and making them its own.”
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Splendours of the Court
Louvre
Spirit and Life
The Path of Princes
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