From the
Weekly Voice:
A Glimpse Into The Splendid Aga Khan Museum In Toronto
Monday, 09 April 2007
The Aga Khan and Mr. Elvio Ubaldi, Mayor of Parma, Italy inaugurated "Splendori a Corte", an exhibition of rare art and manuscripts from the Aga Khan Museum collections. This rare exhibition taking place at the Palazzo della Pilotta in the Italian city of Parma, will become part of the Aga Khan Museum coming up in Toronto.
In addition to the exhibition, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in collaboration with the Teatro Regio di Parma and Parma Capitale della Musica, presented a programme of sacred music from Central Asia.
The Exhibition, will run for two months in Parma and then appear in other European cities. The music programme, which presents a panoramic view of Central Asia's musical traditions, opened at the Teatro Regio. Four other concerts, featuring four different performing ensembles are running at the Palazzo della Pilotta.
A Fatimid jar from the 10th or 11th centuries is featured in the Splendori a Corte Exhibition in Parma, Italy.
"This Exhibition of artistic masterpieces from the Islamic world underlines that the arts, particularly when they are spiritually inspired, can become a medium of discourse that transcends the barriers of our day-to-day experiences and preoccupations," said the Aga Khan. "Many questions are currently being raised in the West about the Muslim world, with countless misconceptions and misunderstandings occurring between our contemporary societies. I hope that this exhibition will hold a special significance at a time which calls for enlightened encounters amongst faiths and cultures." The Aga Khan continued.
The Exhibition is dedicated to the presentation of Muslim arts and culture in all their historic, cultural and geographical diversity.
The selection of artwork is made from the permanent collections of the Aga Khan Museum, which will open in Toronto, Canada, in 2010.
Surrounded by a large landscaped park, the Museum will be housed in a 10,000 square-metre building designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki.
"The political crises of the last few years, and the large numbers of Muslims emigrating to the West, have revealed - often dramatically - the considerable lack of knowledge of the Muslim world in many Western societies," said Luis Monreal, General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).
"This ignorance spans all aspects of Islam: its pluralism, the diversity of interpretations within the Qur'anic faith, the chronological and geographical extent of its history and culture, as well as the ethnic, linguistic and social diversity of its peoples. The supposed 'clash of civilisations' is in reality nothing more than a manifestation of mutual ignorance," Luis Monreal added.
AKTC's programmes encompass a wide series of activities aimed at the preservation and promotion of various elements of the material and spiritual heritage of Muslim societies. The Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia is an initiative for the preservation of the musical heritage of Central Asia, which both supports master interpreters and music tradition bearers, and carries out the recording and publication of musical anthologies of the various ethnic groups in that region. AKTC also supports the Muslim arts and architecture departments of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as ArchNet, a major online resource on Islamic architecture. AKTC includes the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, established thirty years ago and created to draw attention to and recompense outstanding examples of architectural excellence as well as projects which provide solutions for the most acute social needs which exist in Muslim societies.
These programmes are part of the AKTC, which uses cultural heritage as a means of supporting and catalysing development - a strategy seldom employed by other international agencies. AKTC programmes are aimed at revitalising historic cities in the Muslim world both culturally and socioeconomically. Over the last decade, this approach has demonstrated its unique potential, through projects which rehabilitate monuments and public spaces and generally enhance the urban environment, including historic areas in Cairo, Kabul, Herat, Aleppo, Delhi, Zanzibar, Mostar, Timbuktu and Mopti.
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And here is a link to the exhibition in Italy:
http://www.splendoriacorte.org/index.html
AoD
