Event – October 25 | Royal Ontario Museum & Ismaili Centre Toronto: Alice Hunsberger: Cairo at the Heart of the Grand Tour: Medieval Travellers from Spain to China

Fulfilling Islamic value, to spread knowledge, many travelers wrote about their journeys … to record the wonders of the world, both man made and God-given.

Travelers made sure to include Cairo on their itineraries as beacon, inspiration and resplendent goal of intercontinental travelers.

Come join Alice Hunsberger, one of the leading authors on medieval travel, as she explores the pathways of these journeys, with an illustrated lecture on Cairo as beacon, inspiration and resplendent goal of intercontinental travelers a millennium ago.

Presented in Partnership by the Royal Ontario Museum and His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Canada.

EVENT: Cairo at the Heart of the Grand Tour: Medieval Travellers from Spain to China
SPEAKER: Alice Hunsberger
DATE: Saturday, October 25th, 2014
TIME: 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST
VENUE: Ismaili Centre Toronto, 49 Wynford Drive, Toronto, Ontario.

Glass weight, molded and stamped glass. Egypt, 1014-1020 976.67.1 (ROM)
Glass weight, molded and stamped glass. Egypt, 1014-1020 976.67.1 (ROM)

Spanning the globe from Spain to China, the medieval Islamic world offered a large landscape in many ways socially, morally and culturally cohesive, while also remarkably varied from region to region.

The religious command for all Muslims to travel to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage combined with the Prophet Muhammad’s directive that Muslims seek knowledge everywhere, “even unto China”, to make long-distance travel into a societal norm for all and a personal goal for many. Travelers crisscrossed kingdoms and empires, following their internal maps of what was valuable, noteworthy or necessary.

Fulfilling another Islamic value, to spread knowledge, many travelers wrote about their journeys and have given us their chronicles of the great and the ordinary, the fabulous and the depraved. Some are joyous, some scientific, but all move along with eyes wide open to record the wonders of the world, both manmade and God-given.

Great cities were growing up and growing more, some on ancient sites and some as grand examples of new city planning with architectural and social innovations. Travelers made sure to include Cairo on their itineraries.

About Alice Hunsberger, American Federation of Arts


Dr Hunsberger received her doctorate in Middle East Languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 1992, specialising in Persian and Arabic literatures. She has taught courses dealing with aspects of Islam as well as on the history of science at various universities in Iran and the USA, including Arya Mehr University of Technology in Isfahan, Iran and Hunter College, The City University of New York.

Dr Hunsberger is the author of Nasir Khusraw, The Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Scholar (London, 2000), and has contributed numerous papers to academic conferences and journals. Dr Hunsberger was a Visiting Research Fellow at The Institute of Ismaili Studies from 1999-2001.

About ROM World Art & Culture

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is home to one of the world’s most extensive and eclectic collections of art and other cultural and historical objects. The scale of our collection is enormous, with tens of thousands of artifacts representing the entire sweep of human history. As the product of human invention, the fine arts and design in various media, popular arts, functional objects and the built environment are a direct extension of human thought and experience, shaping and reflecting historical and cultural identities. ROM research examines the complex and fascinating histories of different times and places, and to relate these explorations to our contemporary experience.

ROM World Art & Culture explores millennia of visual arts and material culture.

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