Aga Khan Museum
Fumihiko Maki's white granite museum of Islamic art, Iranian art and Muslim culture in North York.
The Aga Khan Museum opened in September 2014 on a landscaped park in the North York district of Toronto, sharing its site with the Ismaili Centre. It was founded by the Aga Khan Development Network to present the artistic and intellectual heritage of Muslim civilisations to a North American audience. The permanent collection holds roughly a thousand objects spanning more than a millennium, among them illustrated manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and scientific instruments drawn from Spain to China.
The building was designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, who clad it in white Brazilian granite and organised the galleries around a glazed inner courtyard screened by patterned glass. Daylight is a deliberate theme throughout, reflecting the importance of light in Islamic architecture. Alongside the galleries the museum runs a 350-seat auditorium used for concerts, film and talks, and its formal gardens, designed by Vladimir Djurovic, contain five reflecting pools set in a granite plaza.
Highlights
- Manuscript folios from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp
- Glazed inner courtyard screened with patterned glass
- Auditorium programme of world music, film and talks
- Formal park with five black granite reflecting pools
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