What Makes the Great Mongol Shahnama Great?
Professor Robert Hillenbrand, University of Edinburgh

Date: Sunday, April 23, 2 pm
Price: $20 Regular, $18 Friends, $15 Students
Tickets include same-day Museum admission.

Can't make it to the Museum? Watch live via Zoom. Click here to register.

What makes the Great Mongol Shahnama great? Join Professor Robert Hillenbrand (University of Edinburgh) on this vivid exploration of one of the most renowned illustrated copies of Firdawsi's epic "Book of Kings" ever produced.

This lavishly illustrated lecture will introduce the historical and artistic context from which this manuscript sprang before turning to the unprecedented innovations of its illustrations: the development of pictorial space, a hugely expanded range of emotional expression, exciting experiments in composition and format, a radical approach to colour, and above all, and unmatched fascination with the actual appearance of things. Professor Hillenbrand will explain impact of these dramatic changes in approach.  

This lecture will be followed by a reception and book signing of Professor Hillenbrand's latest publication, The Great Mongol Shahnama (Ginko, 2023). Limited copies will be available at the Aga Khan Museum Shop.

This event will also be live-streamed via Zoom.

About Professor Robert Hillenbrand

Professor Robert Hillenbrand was educated at Cambridge and Oxford and has spent most of his career teaching at the University of Edinburgh, with visiting professorships at Princeton, UCLA, Bamberg, Leiden, Dartmouth College, New York, Cairo and Groningen. He is currently an Emeritus Professor of Islamic Art at the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Professor of Islamic art at the University of St Andrews. His scholarly interests focus on Islamic architecture, painting and iconography, with particular reference to Iran and early Islamic Syria. His thirteen books include Imperial Images in Persian Painting; Islamic Art and Architecture (revised and expanded edition, 2021); The Architecture of Ottoman Jerusalem: An Introduction; the prize-winning Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning; The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. A landmark of modern Islamic architecture; An unknown masterpiece from Mongol Iran; Islamic Architecture in North Africa (co-author), The Great Mongol Shahnama and four volumes of his collected articles: Studies in Medieval Islamic Architecture I and II; Studies in the Islamic Arts of the Book; and Studies in the Islamic Decorative Arts. In addition, he has edited or co-edited thirteen books. He has also published some 200 articles on aspects of Islamic art and architecture and organized ten conferences. He has served as Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge and is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

About the Islamic Art and Material Culture Collaborative

The Islamic Art and Material Culture Collaborative (IAMCC) is a research network based in Toronto that brings together the capacities and resources of the University of Toronto (UofT), the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and the Aga Khan Museum (AKM).

The IAMCC recognizes that the City of Toronto offers a rare opportunity to create a North American centre of study on Islamic art and material culture that can also reflect back on the field the unique political, social, and cultural history of the city’s diverse and multicultural landscape. The IAMCC will create an inclusive space for researchers, curators, and students to combine knowledge production and outreach facilities to create innovative cultural outputs.