Browse Items (101 total)

Physical travel is not the only form of journey: imaginative travel, guided by diagram or text, also provides access to new horizons. This rectangular tile, which would have been installed in a mosque or in a private home, depicts a stylized map of…

This pilgrimage (hajj) certificate shows the holy city of Mecca, with the Ka'ba at center and various monuments surrounding it. The style of the domed arches at the map's edge suggests that they may have been painted by Indian artists in Arabia. Like…

Prayer books in various faith traditions provide virtual pathways to spiritual journeys in the form of pilgrimage maps. For Muslims, the Dala'il al-Khayrat (Arabic, "Waymarks of Benefits") is the most important of these. Composed in northwestern…

Prayer books in the Christian tradition (or 'Books of Hours') list the regular set times and appropriate prayers for every day of the year. The Latin masculine word endings of the prayers reveal that this book was made for a male user, perhaps a monk…

Pilgrimage is both a spiritual journey and an experience of wonder. This painting depicts a visit by three men to the Amarnath Cave, a shrine located in the Himalayan Mountains of Kashmir, where they marvel at a natural ice pillar or stalagmite. For…

This carpet's size, design, and wear pattern reveal that it is a prayer rug, of a type popular in Turkey, Syria, and Iran. The symbolic forms woven into the carpet--prayer niche (mihrab), lamp, candles, incense burner, and ewers--bring its user…

This version of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana uses images instead of words to tell how Rama, a manifestation of the Hindu god Vishnu, struggled to defeat the demon king Ravana. On this page, Rama is exiled to the forest, but the austere sage at left…

From the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto: In eastern Islamic lands, many Jewish communities mounted the parchment Torah scrolls in a rigid cylindrical case, which was often pained or covered with embossed silver. The case stood erect on the reader's…

From the Royal Ontario Museum collection: This Torah case from the synagogue at Kaifeng was collected by William C. White, Anglican Bishop in Henan Province in the early 20th century. This object is part of the virtual exhibit only.

HIDDEN STORIES: GLOBAL HISTORY, LOCAL NETWORKS Virtual Symposium: February 24-25, 2022 Join the Aga Khan Museum for a virtual symposium celebrating the exhibitionHidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads, featuring books, scrolls, manuscript…

The entire cycle of creation and destruction is captured in this image of the Hindu deity Vishnu in his role as preserver and renewer. As one age ends, Vishnu swallows up the universe and turns it into a formless ocean; reclining on the mighty…

Inner Asia is famous for the jewelry of its more than 30 Turkmen tribes, produced in silver, decorated with talismanic inscriptions, and adorned with carnelian or turquoise. Each element--metal, writing, and precious stones--is carefully chosen to…

Inner Asia is famous for the jewelry of its more than 30 Turkmen tribes, produced in silver, decorated with talismanic inscriptions, and adorned with carnelian or turquoise. Each element--metal, writing, and precious stones--is carefully chosen to…

These two pages come from the Jain Kalpa Sutra, an important religious text that details the lives of the 24 Jain Tirthankaras (literally, 'ford-crossers'). In Jainism, it is believed that 24 religious teachers entered the world, at separate times,…

Verses from the Book of Genesis appear on this page written by a member of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, most likely in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Little is known about these people, who may have been the descendants of traders…

Printing developed in East Asia long before it did in Europe, including both large-scale woodblocks and moveable type, and was used for imprinting patterns on textiles as well as on paper. Clay and wood type were made in China during the eleventh…

Printing developed in East Asia long before it did in Europe, including both large-scale woodblocks and moveable type, and was used for imprinting patterns on textiles as well as on paper. Clay and wood type were made in China during the eleventh…

According to Islam, the Qur'an offers divine protection, and the holy book has often been kept in a lavishly decorated case when not in use for recitation. Silver, the main material of this case, was thought
to possess healing properties in the…

This book, on making the Islamic pilgrimage (hajj) from China to Mecca, is printed on lightweight but strong Asian paper and bound using a style traditional to China and East Asia which creates intricate geometric designs.

This version, a simple…

Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BCE) is known under many names, including the Persian ‘Eskandar’ of these manuscripts from Iran and Uzbekistan. His Macedonian origins and association with Greek culture — above all through his teacher,…