Museum of Islamic Art

Welcome to the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, located in the historic Bab al-Khalq district. This institution houses one of the most significant and comprehensive collections of Islamic artifacts in the world, spanning from the…

One of the museum's most prized possessions is the portable wood mihrab of Sayyida Ruqayya. A mihrab is a prayer niche that indicates the direction of Mecca, and this particular example, dating from the Fatimid period in the 12th…

In the ceramics gallery, we find the iconic Abbasid 'blue-on-white' bowl, an artifact that tells a story of early global trade and technological innovation. In the 9th century, the Abbasid Caliphate, centered in Baghdad, was the…

We now move to the glass gallery to witness the peak of medieval enameled glassmaking: the Mamluk mosque lamp. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Cairo was the world capital of glass production. …

The intersection of art and science is nowhere more apparent than in the museum's collection of scientific instruments, particularly the 10th-century golden astrolabe. An astrolabe is a sophisticated astronomical tool used to…

In the textile gallery, we encounter the monumental Sitara of the Kaaba, a piece of extraordinary historical and religious weight. Dating to 1846, this massive black silk curtain was embroidered heavily with gilded metal threads…

As we reach the furthest galleries, we encounter the high-impact visual luxury of the Mughal Empire, represented by the spectacular Varanasi-style necklace. The Mughal Empire, which ruled much of India and Pakistan from the 16th…

Our journey through the Museum of Islamic Art has been a passage through fourteen hundred years of human creativity and spiritual devotion. We have seen how a single religious vision inspired an incredible diversity of artistic…