Museum Of Islamic Art, Cairo
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The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA; ) in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
is considered one of the greatest museums in the world, with its exceptional collection of rare woodwork and
plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
artefacts, as well as metal, ceramic, glass, crystal, and textile objects of all periods, from all over the Islamic world. In recent years, the museum has displayed about 4,500 artefacts in 25 halls, but it houses more than 100,000 objects, with the remainder in storage. The collection includes rare manuscripts of the
Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
, with some calligraphy written in silver ink, on pages with elaborate borders. The museum has conducted archaeological excavations in the
Fustat Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...
area and has organized a number of national and international exhibitions. The museum closed for renovations in 2003, and re-opened 8 years later, in August 2010. The restoration cost nearly US$10 million.


History

Although recognition of the Egyptian Pharaonic art was signalled in Cairo by the establishment in 1858 of the Egyptian
Department of Antiquities A Department of Antiquities is a government department with responsibility for cultural heritage management, archaeological research and regulating antiquities trading in some countries. Many were established by British and French colonial admini ...
and the
Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...
, the appreciation of Islamic art lagged behind. The
Khedive Khedive ( ; ; ) was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the Khedive of Egypt, viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Khedive" ''Encyclopaedi ...
Ismail Pasha approved a proposal to establish a museum of
Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...
in the courtyard of the Mosque of Baibars, but this was not carried out until 1880, when Khedive Tawfiq ordered the Ministry of Endowments (ar: الأوقاف -
Awqaf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charit ...
) to set it up. Julius Franz, an Austrian scholar of Hungarian descent, the head of the technical department at the Awqaf, proposed in 1881 that the ruined mosque of the
Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...
caliph al-Hakim, adjacent to the Bab Al-Futuh, to be a provisional seat for the museum. A gallery was accordingly furnished there in the eastern arcade, consisting initially of 111 architectural pieces taken from other monuments. Matters improved the same year when Khedive Tawfiq approved the "Committee of Arab Antiquities", whose duties included running the Arab Museum, and providing it with objects as well as preserving the monuments. As a result, the arcades of the mosque were filled to overflowing. In 1884, a two-storey structure was built in the courtyard to house the collection of 900 objects, although its staff consisted of only one curator and a door keeper. In 1887 Max Herz, also
Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
, replaced Julius Franz, and began making many changes. He suggested the name of the museum back then as the gallery of Arab Antiquities (ar: دار الآثار العربية - Dar Al-Athar Al-Arabiya). By 1895 the collection numbered to 1,641, and the new building became too crowded, so he requested the Awqaf build a larger museum. In 1899 the foundations were laid for the present larger building in the Bab Al-Khalq area of Cairo. The new and current building was designed by Alfonso Manescalo, and was completed in 1902 in neo-Mamluk style, with its upper storey housing the
National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...
. The old museum in al-Hakim was demolished in the 1970s, during refurbishment of the mosque there.


Design

The museum faces historic Cairo. It has two entrances: one on the north-eastern side and the other on the south-eastern side. A beautiful garden with a fountain once led to the first entrance but was later removed. The entrance on Port Said Street features a very luxurious façade, rich with decorations and recesses inspired by Islamic architecture in Egypt from various periods. The museum is a two-storey building; the lower floor contains the exhibition halls and the upper floor contains the general stores. The basement contains a store connected with the Restoration Section.


Bomb damage

On January 24, 2014, a car bomb attack targeting the Cairo police headquarters on the other side of the street caused considerable damage to the museum and destroyed many artifacts. It's estimated that 20-30% of the artifacts required restoration. The blast also severely damaged the building's façade, erasing intricate designs in the Islamic style. The National Library in the same building was also affected.


Reopening

Following the car bomb damage there was a period of reconstruction and restoration, during which the majority of affected artefacts were retained. The museum reopened in January 2017.


Collection

The collection features artifacts from Egypt, North Africa, Andalusia, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran ranging from the 7th to the 19th century. The exhibited artifacts of the right wing of the MIA are divided by the
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
,
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
, Ayubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. The exhibited artifacts of the left wing of the MIA are divided into sections by science, astronomy, calligraphy, coins, stones and textiles, covering various epochs.


Gallery

File:MIA001.jpg, Marble jars and stands with engraved ornamentation File:MIA004.jpg, Ceramic tile panel with painted under glaze decoration and transparent glaze overall, 17th century File:MIA002.jpg, Luster painted large dish, Fatimid era File:MIA003.jpg, Marble medallion, the main logo of the MIA File:MIA005.jpg, Two astrolabes of copper, 14th-18th century File:MIA006.jpg, Gilded and enameled glass mosque lamp, Mamluk period


References


External links


official Museum of Islamic Art websiteAFP article on the Museum of Islamic Art reopening
{{authority control Museums in Cairo Art museums and galleries in Egypt History museums in Egypt Decorative arts museums Islamic culture Medieval Cairo Art museums and galleries established in 1858 1903 establishments in Egypt Islamic museums Islam in Cairo Religious museums in Egypt 19th-century religious buildings and structures in Egypt