Islamic treasures on show in Germany

More than 200 items from the Aga Khan's collection of Islamic treasures, are going on show in Berlin. The new exhibition spans a millennium and a half, and contains items from around the world. It aims to illustrate the breadth of Islamic culture.

More than 200 items from the Aga Khan's collection of  Islamic treasures, are going on show in Berlin.

A stunning blue plate bearing the image of a lion amongst flowers, dating from the 16th century, is just one of the exhibits invoking the treasures of the Islamic world.

"Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum - Arts of the Islamic World" opens to the public at Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau on Wednesday.

There's pottery, like these 15th century urns called the "Three Albarelli". And legends from the Islamic world, as documented in these illustrations of the epic Persian poem "Shahnama" or "Book of Kings."

From the western end of the Islamic world, the exhibition showcases artifacts like an astrolabe from "al-Andalus", the area of Spain ruled by the Moors until 1492.

From North Africa, there are pages from the "blue Quran", inscribed in gold on blue-dyed parchment dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries.

Fiction also makes an appearance with an early version of the classic folk tales now known as "A thousand and one nights".

All the items on display come from the collection of the Aga Khan, a billionaire philanthropist and spiritual leader of 20 million Shia Ismaili Muslims.

Curators hope the exhibition will help tell the German public about the increasing diversity of their domestic culture.

Benoit Junod, exhibition curator, said, "Today I think Germany is a very plural society. You have a great number of Muslims living in Germany and we thought it would be an opportunity to make the public here to understand a little bit more the diversity and the richness of the achievements of culture from the Islamic world over about a thousand years."

The exhibition includes 215 items from a collection of 1,000 pieces. It will run until June 6th. And eventually move to a permanent home in Toronto, in mid 2013.