& … [Read more...]
MOSQUES AND MUSEUMS OF THE UAE (MASJID SHEIKH ZAYED, SHARJAH MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION)
Abu Dhabi, Sharjah & Other Cities, United Arab Emirates Once little more than a collection of small kingdoms tucked away on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula, the region now known as the United Arab Emirates has grown from a relatively unimportant mercantile enclave into a world economic powerhouse. Since the end of World War II, vast reserves of oil have made … [Read more...]
MOSQUES AND MUSEUMS OF THE GULF STATES (MASJID AL FATIH, MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART)
Doha, Qatar; Manama, Bahrain; and Kuwait City, Kuwait The three small Persian Gulf states of Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are closely tied to the United Arab Emirates in terms if history, culture and great modern architectural ambitions. This is particularly true of neighboring Qatar and Bahrain, which at one point were nearly incorporated into the UAE. Huge quantities of oil … [Read more...]
KING FAHD ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTER
Buenos Aires, Argentina Until fairly recently, Islam historically made little headway in establishing footholds in the Americas. Sizeable Muslim communities can as yet be found in only three countries: the United States, Brazil and Argentina. Of these, the Muslim community of Argentina is the smallest; and yet it is home to the King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center in Buenos … [Read more...]
GOLESTAN PALACE
Teheran, Iran Persia is arguably the world’s oldest, most continuous state. Since the days of the Medes in the 1st Millenium BC, a procession of nations has existed in this neighborhood that roughly conform to Iran’s modern-day borders. Despite conquests by the Greeks, Arabs and Mongols, Persia’s geography has remained more or less intact. In the ensuing twenty five … [Read more...]
TOPKAPI PALACE
Istanbul, Turkey The Islamic world has a long tradition of honoring its famous dead, and many mosques have at their heart a mausoleum or tomb containing the relics of important Muslims, religious, political, literary or otherwise. What is not common in the Islamic world is the preservation of important religious objects, with at least one major exception: The Sacred Trusts, … [Read more...]
HAGIA SOFIA
Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul has the unique distinction that it has served as the capital of both the Christian and Islamic worlds. From the time of Constantine until the advent of Islam, the patriarch of Constantinople nominally ruled over the vast majority of the world’s Christians. From the time of the Ottoman conquest of the city until the end of World War I, the sultan at … [Read more...]
CAIRO CITADEL
Cairo, Egypt The Citadel of Cairo is the great palace/fortress from which numerous Islamic dynasties ruled over Egypt and periodically other African and Middle Eastern territories. Constructed by Saladin in the 11th century, it is one of the greatest fortress-palaces built in the Middle East during the Abbasid and Mamluk periods. Its beauty and political importance were … [Read more...]
ISRAEL MUSEUM & THE SHRINE OF THE BOOK
Jerusalem, Israel The Israel Museum is the national museum of the State of Israel and the greatest Jewish Museum in the world. A sprawling world-class complex, no other museum in the entire Middle East with the possible exception of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo boasts so large or diverse a collection as the Israel Museum. Designed to capture the immense, grandiose history … [Read more...]
MUSEUMS OF TEL AVIV
Tel Aviv, Israel The city of Tel Aviv is the cultural capital of Israel and, with the possible exception of New York City, Judaism in general. Tel Aviv is the heart of everything secular in Israel, from commerce to recreation to sports to the performing arts. Boasting more than sixty museums, Tel Aviv has among the highest number of museums per capita in the world, … [Read more...]
