March 30 (Bloomberg) — The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, is a generous man. He heads a network of non-profit development agencies and plans to open a museum for his collection of Islamic art in Toronto in 2013.
Until the building is completed, he is loaning the art to museums around the world. The current beneficiary is Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau, where “Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum” is showing through June 6.
The 73-year-old philanthropist, in an introduction to the catalog, says he believes that tensions between Islam and the western world are less about a “clash of civilizations” than “a battle of mutual ignorance.” Exhibiting his collection, which spans a vast area from Spain to China, is a way to fight that ignorance.
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