Museum Spaces
The Aga Khan Museum is comprised of four main gallery spaces — the Museum Collections Gallery, Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, Bellerive Room, and Lower-Level Gallery.
Museum Collections Gallery
The Museum’s Collections of over 1,200 objects include masterpieces that reflect a broad range of artistic styles and materials. Artworks such as manuscripts, paintings, ceramics, glass, and textiles represent more than 10 centuries of human history and a geographic area stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to China.
There are approximately 250 objects displayed at any one time in the Museum Collections Gallery. It provides an overview of the artistic, intellectual, and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations to world heritage. Twice a year, sensitive and organic materials such as textiles and works on paper are rotated, with some objects returning to the Museum storage while others are brought out for display. This limits the artworks’ exposure to light and other environmental variables, ensuring the long-term safety of the collections.
Click here to browse the Museum Collections.
Click here for a virtual 3D tour of the gallery.
Temporary Exhibitions Gallery
Located on the second floor, the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery showcases an innovative array of major exhibitions featuring international and local artists. The exhibitions, both curated internally and in collaboration with renowned galleries worldwide, aim to foster intercultural connection and understanding by exploring the ways in which we are all connected through the arts. With a captivating blend of contemporary installations and historical artworks, they spark meaningful dialogue between the past and present.
Click here to view 3D tours of past exhibitions in the gallery.
Bellerive Room
Located on the main floor of the Museum, the Bellerive Room displays a selection from the ceramics collection of the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and Princess Catherine Aga Khan. The room is a recreation of the “La Chambre Persane,” or “Persian Salon,” in their home, Chateau de Bellerive in Geneva, Switzerland, where part of the collection was originally on display. There are approximately 60 ceramic objects on view in the Bellerive Room. They date from the early Islamic periods through to the 17th century. Their styles reflect the innovative technological and aesthetic contributions of Islamic potters through the ages, which were often in dialogue with influences from as far afield as China and Europe.
The Bellerive Room in the Aga Khan Museum is free to visitors to enjoy during Museum hours and is available for private functions and other events.
Click here for a virtual 3D tour of the Bellerive Room.
Lower–Level Gallery
Located in the entryway from the underground parking garage, the Lower-Level Gallery is free to visit. The Museum’s newest gallery space features an ever-changing rotation of photography exhibitions by renowned artists that explore an array of themes and topics through captivating visual art.