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LONDON
Victoria & Albert Musuem
LONDON
Victoria & Albert Musuem
The Victoria & Albert Museum is a world-famous art and design museum that houses some of the world's most exquisite artworks and design creations.
Their show-stopping ceramics collection, located on the top floor of the Kensington site, simultaneously juxtaposes Asian and European ceramics and demonstrates their inextricable influence on each other.
LONDON
Leighton House
LONDON
Leighton House
Leighton House is an imposing London house which belonged to the Victorian painter Frederic Leighton. Leighton commissioned the architect George Aitchison to build him a home and studio incorporating tiles purchased in the Near East.
The resulting building provides a snapshot of lavish Orientalist aesthetics, drawing on Islamic decorative traditions.
LONDON
British Museum’s Islamic Galleries
LONDON
British Museum’s Islamic Galleries
The British Museum’s Islamic Galleries are displayed across two impressive, refurbished galleries and exhibit an outstanding range of materials in the Islamic world from the 7th century to the present day.
visit websiteKUALA LUMPUR
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Amassing over 10,000 historical artefacts since its foundation over 25 years ago, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is home to Southeast Asia's most extensive collection of Islamic art. The museum’s architecture features an exciting blend of Western modernist and Islamic traditional styles.
visit websiteCOPENHAGEN
The David Collection
COPENHAGEN
The David Collection
The David Collection resides in a beautiful neo-classical building in central Copenhagen. Countless treasures can be found in the refurbished galleries, including a collection of Islamic art, which Amir Mohtashemi considers amongst the best in the world.
LONDON
Wallace Collection
LONDON
Wallace Collection
Tucked away in a historic London townhouse, the Wallace Collection is home to the most significant collection of Indian, Persian, and Turkish arms and armour in the UK, ranging from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
visit websiteATHENS
Benaki Museum
ATHENS
Benaki Museum
Founded by the private collector Antonis Benakis, the Benaki Museum houses a wealth of Greek and Asian works of art. Of note is the impressive Islamic collection displayed in a neo-classical building complex in the heart of Athens.
visit websiteOXFORD
Yousef Jameel Centre, Ashmolean Museum
OXFORD
Yousef Jameel Centre, Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum’s collection of Islamic art is compact but of the highest quality. The Yousef Jameel Centre provides online access to the Eastern Art collections, enabling anybody to learn about Islamic art, no matter where they are.
visit websiteSINGAPORE
Asian Civilizations Museum
SINGAPORE
Asian Civilizations Museum
The collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in Singapore illustrates the history of trade in Asia, a subject of particular interest to Amir Mohtashemi. The museum has evolved enormously since its move to a beautiful period building over 20 years ago.
visit websiteNEW YORK
Hispanic Society of America
NEW YORK
Hispanic Society of America
The Hispanic Society of America in New York provides a fantastic educational and research resource for those interested in the links between Spain and the New World. Though it is accessible by appointment only, it is well worth visiting.
visit websiteLONDON
The De Morgan Foundation
LONDON
The De Morgan Foundation
One of the most prominent designers of the British arts and crafts movement, William De Morgan, was highly influenced by Persian and Iznik pottery. On display in the De Morgan Foundation are over 700 ceramic pieces by William De Morgan and 58 paintings by his wife, Evelyn De Morgan.
visit websiteLONDON
William Morris Gallery
LONDON
William Morris Gallery
The William Morris Gallery showcases the art and influences of the Arts and Crafts movement’s most enduringly popular designer. The influence of Islamic tiles and textiles on Morris’ work is evident.
visit websiteLONDON
Tomb of Sir Richard Burton in Mortlake
LONDON
Tomb of Sir Richard Burton in Mortlake
Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) was one of the first Westerners to travel extensively in the Islamic world. He was a gifted linguist and intrepid explorer who visited Mecca in the guise of a Muslim pilgrim and secretly drew plans of the sacred inner shrine. Modelled on a tent that Burton had made for his travels to Syria, his tomb in Mortlake makes a fitting pilgrimage site for those interested in the Orientalist movement.
On the tomb is an inscription by his friend, the Irish author Justin Huntly McCarthy:
"Farewell, dear friend, dead hero! The great life is ended, the great perils, the great joys; and he to whom adventures were as toys, who seemed to bear a charm ‘gainst spear or knife or bullet, now lies silent from all strife out yonder where the Austrian eagles poise on Istrian hills. But England, at the noise of that dread fall, weeps with the hero's wife. Oh, last and humblest of the errant knights, the English soldier and the Arab Sheik! Oh, singer of the east who loved so well the deathless wonder of the “Arabian Nights”, who touched Camoen's lute and still would seek new deeds until the end! Farewell!"
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