Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Sep 27, 2024,

SPEECH BY PRINCE AMYN MUHAMMAD AGA KHAN
LAPIS BALL HELD ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF THE AGA KHAN MUSEUM

Toronto, Canada

Good evening, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends.

As you may have guessed, it gives me a particular pleasure tonight to welcome you and to be with you for the 2024 Lapis Ball, as we celebrate the 10th year of the Museum's inauguration in Toronto on the 12th of September, 2014.

That happened to be my birthday.

But you need to know that the Museum is much younger than me.

A reception at Toronto’s City Hall brought together city councillors, civic leaders, and special guests to celebrate a decade of cultural and community-building efforts in the city.

The event marked the 10th anniversary of three institutions in the city: the Aga Khan Museum, the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Park, and underscored the strong relationship between the Ismaili Imamat and the City of Toronto. Prince Amyn, who serves as Board Chair of the Aga Khan Museum, is in Toronto for events to mark the museum’s 10th anniversary.

A reception at Toronto’s City Hall brought together city councillors, civic leaders, and special guests to celebrate a decade of cultural and community-building efforts in the city.

The event marked the 10th anniversary of three institutions in the city: the Aga Khan Museum, the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Park, and underscored the strong relationship between the Ismaili Imamat and the City of Toronto. Prince Amyn, who serves as Board Chair of the Aga Khan Museum, is in Toronto for events to mark the museum’s 10th anniversary.

The renewed agreement will continue to support the Museum’s mission to connect cultures through the arts and provide emerging artists with impactful career opportunities

Video displays the excerpts of speech by His Highness The Aga Khan. Also the museum's collections that are shown around the world

Toronto, Canada, 10 January 2024 - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Culture and the Aga Khan Museum have announced a formal collaboration emanating from the Al-Burda Grant Programme, to advance their shared and individual missions, priorities and strategic objectives.

Prince Amyn Mohammed visited Aga Khan Museum in Toronto 2022-07-19

October 1, 2021

Annual Lapis Digital Benefit 2021

Speech by Prince Amyn Mohammed

It is my great pleasure to welcome you today to the Aga Khan Museum’s Annual Lapis Digital Benefit. When we held this event last year, we could not have known that this year too, we would have to celebrate remotely, once again.

However, celebrate we will.

Despite all the many challenges of the past year, the Museum has achieved so much. I believe in fostering intercultural understanding and dialogue and all of that of course with the generous support of so many.

Hazar Imam waves to the many Ismailis who had gathered at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto for a glimpse of the Imam

The conceptual work by the Ghanian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako addresses the cultural impact of Kumbi Saleh, the centre of the trans-Saharan trade route

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has acquired a colossal sculpture made from 100,000 pieces of Lego by the Ghanian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, who is known for his Afrofuturist reimaginings of Black histories built from Lego bricks.

According to the auction house, visionaries, and ahead of their time, Prince Sadruddin and Princess Catherine Aga Khan have been the discreet patrons of many major philanthropic projects, aimed at preserving cultural and natural sites, from Egyptian temples to the Alps.

The remarkable private collection of Sadruddin Aga Khan and his wife, will head to auction on October 1, 2020, global auction house Christie’s announced. The couple are the son and daughter-in-law of Aga Khan III, president of the All-India Muslim League during India’s pre-Independence era.

While museums around the world are shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibition openings will be replaced by a selection of digital initiatives providing virtual access to art and culture.

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has pulled out all the stops with its online offering. There are so far eight 3D tours available as part of the #MuseumWithoutWalls programme, all created using Matterport 3D scanning technology (which means you can experience the tours in virtual reality, if you have a VR headset).

9 April 2020

Dear Staff and Volunteers,

A Note of Appreciation and Well Wishes

When we opened Don’t Ask Me Where I Am From one month ago, I did not realize how quickly
the measures for containing COVID-19 would come into place and how soon, thereafter, the
Museum would have to close to the public. I feel great sadness that we have had to close after
five and half years of continuous and I believe successful operations. My hope is that this crisis
will pass swiftly.

Our priority at this moment is to contain the virus, and keeping the Museum closed is part of this

What does it mean when you are asked - "where are you from?" This often innocuous question provides information to identify the historical background of a person but, more often than not, also pigeon-holes migrants based on biases and stereotypes.

African stories often left out of western textbooks, writes Henry Kim

The wealthiest person of all time may have been Mansa Musa, the 14th-century ruler of the West African Empire of Mali.

His riches were so famed that a European world map featured a portrait of him, adorned with a golden crown and holding a sceptre and golden ball.

According to accounts, when Mansa Musa made the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca he brought with him 8,000 courtiers, 12,000 slaves, and 100 camels, each carrying up to 300 pounds of gold.

The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto turns five-years of age on September 12, 2019

When Hollywood star Rita Hayworth was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1981 at the age of 62, her daughter Princess Yasmin Aga Khan took on the role of her conservator.

In addition to caring for her mother, Princess Yasmin, who is a half-sister of the Ismaili Muslim spiritual leader, the Aga Khan, also became an early spokesperson for those with Alzheimer’s, bringing public attention to a neurodegenerative disease that few openly discussed.

April highlights include jazz sextet, standup comedy, qawwali performance

This April, the Aga Khan Museum celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing with The Moon: A Voyage Through Time. The exhibition, which runs until Aug. 18, explores the moon’s influence on faith, science and the arts across the Muslim world and beyond.