The Islamic world’s rich contributions to the life of the mind – and its centuries of interaction with Western philosophers, artists and mathematicians – will be on permanent display on this side of the Atlantic when the Aga Khan Museum opens … The museum’s far-reaching collection is, like the museum building itself, a gift from the Aga Khan .. Among its treasures: ten folios of one of the world’s most prized painted manuscripts, the 16th-century Persian Book of Kings, and a unique 14th-century astrolabe that, reflecting the cultural interchange of the age, passed through the hands of Arabic-, Hebrew- and Latin-speaking astronomers, each of whom added his own inscriptions.
By Richard Nalley for Forbes – This story appears in the September 28, 2014 issue of Forbes Life.
The Islamic world’s rich contributions to the life of the mind–and its centuries of interaction with Western philosophers, artists and mathematicians–will be on permanent display on this side of the Atlantic when the Aga Khan Museum (agakhanmuseum.org) opens this fall in Toronto. It is housed in a resplendent, 113,000-square-foot, pale granite building by a past master of cultural fusion, Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki (who also designed New York’s 4 World Trade Center). The museum’s far-reaching collection is, like the museum building itself, a gift from the Aga Khan, Imam of the world’s estimated 15 million Nizari Ismaili Muslims (the museum shares its parklike grounds with Toronto’s Ismaili Centre). Among its treasures: ten folios of one of the world’s most prized painted manuscripts, the 16th-century Persian Book of Kings, and a unique 14th-century astrolabe that, reflecting the cultural interchange of the age, passed through the hands of Arabic-, Hebrew- and Latin-speaking astronomers, each of whom added his own inscriptions.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardnalley/2014/09/12/keeping-the-faith-a-museum-gifted-by-aga-khan/
Ismailimail 
Mashallah!!
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