BEAUTIFUL Islamic art pieces have been featured in an annual calendar being sold to support a Bahraini museum dedicated to preserving ancient Islamic texts.
Beit Al Quran’s calendar, launched on November 18 to commemorate International Day of Islamic Art, showcases a stunning selection of ceramics, jewellery, metal and glass from the private collection of its founder Dr Abdullatif Kanoo.
Dr Kanoo, whose extensive collection is on display at the museum, built the facility in 1990 to teach Quran, collect and preserve rare Islamic scripts as well as support Islamic Studies.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has declared November 18 of each year as International Day of Islamic Art. The celebration of this day was proposed by Bahrain and adopted by the General Conference of Unesco in 2019. It aims to showcase the diversity and pluralism embodied in the wealth of Islamic art.
Museum director Ashraf Al Ansari said the topic of the 2023 calendar, like in the past, underscored the importance of high-quality design, making it an attractive gift while promoting Islamic art.
“This year the calendar aims to raise awareness of, and define, ancient and contemporary forms of Islamic artistic expression,” Mr Al Ansari told the GDN.
“It also aims to raise awareness of the contribution of Islamic art to preserving and spreading human civilisation.
“The selection showcased in the calendar gives a new perspective to a variety of works produced by Muslim craftsmen from various artistic traditions.”
Mr Al Ansari highlighted that the contribution and sponsorship of supporters have helped Beit Al Quran continue a variety of its programmes in service of Islamic culture and heritage.
He added that the museum has expressed gratitude and appreciation to Dr Kanoo for ‘always making his art and Islamic collection available in support of Beit Al Quran’.
Beit Al Quran is divided into five key segments – the Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa Lecture Hall, the Abdulrahman Jassim Kanoo Mosque, Al Forqan Library, Yousif Bin Ahmad Kanoo School for Quranic Studies and Al Hayat Museum.
It is open to visitors from Saturday to Thursday, from 8.30am to 1.30pm, Sunday to Wednesday from 8.30am to 4pm while being closed on Friday.
Two versions of the new calendar – a wall calendar and a desk calendar – along with greeting cards are available at Beit Al Quran.
Call 17290101 for more details.
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