Stories

DISCOVER EXHIBITS AND THEIR STORIES

Objects with a rich history. People who shape collections. Art that bridges the past and the present. In our stories, we recount the tales behind the objects in the Museum for Islamic Art – from their origins and collectors, through to contemporary artistic perspectives, right down to the people working on them behind the scenes.

DISCOVER OUR STORIES

Shams Anwari at the exhibition opening "Language of the hand and joy of the heart", 2011. © Museum für Islamische Kunst

SERIES: Contemporary Perspectives

Written Images by Shams Anwari

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Series: Cultural x Collabs

Ecological Journeys

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Parviz Tanvoli with one of this structures in 2000s. Credits: John Gordon CC BY-SA 4.0

SERIES: Contemporary Perspectives

The Shape of Nothing by Parviz Tanavoli

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Altstadt Aleppo: die Ruinen der Khosrawiya-Moschee und des Carlton Hotels mit der Zitadelle im Hintergrund. © Sultan Kitaz

SERIES: Memories from Aleppo

Three Voices, One City

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Series: Cultural x Collabs

Creating a carpet

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Series: Cultural x Collabs

Expression Journeys

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Detail of the luster mihrab from Kashan. Credit: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst / Johannes Kramer CC BY-SA 4.0

SERIES: Objects tell Stories

The Shimmering Luster Mihrab

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SERIES: History of the Collection

Crossroads Iran

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Nahaufnahme I. 4109 © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst / Franziska Kabelitz

SERIES: MUSEUM BACKSTAGE

A wooden niche on the way to the future

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Gohar Dashti, Untitled #1, Abstract horizons, 2025 © Gohar Dashti

SERIES: Contemporary Perspectives

Stations of Place with Gohar Dashti

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In the desert, the bricks are unbaked, instead can be dried quickly in the hot weather, photo by Eugen Wirth, crossroad Iran project

SERIES: History of the Collection

Architectural Landscape of Iran

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Book art, album folio from the Shahnameh, detail showing the mythical bird Simurgh I. 5/77. Credit: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst / Farwah Rizvi

SERIES: Objects tell Stories

A painting from the Shahnameh

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E-LEARNING

USING DIGITAL TEACHING MODULES

Islamic art comes to the classroom and the mosque! The teaching modules oriented towards the teaching plan offer creative lessons with large practical sections that bring art and culture to life in the school day. We also offer teaching modules that have been developed by and with mosques and are suitable for Islamic youth work.

GO THE TEACHING MODULES

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Art
Grade: 10 onwards

Restoration as challenge

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Art, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Research at a Museum yourself

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Art, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Communicate for a Museum yourself

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Art, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Curate an exhibition yourself

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Politics, History, Ethics/Religion, German and Foreign Languages
Grade: 10 onwards

Genderroles in Historiography

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Politics, Music, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Music - What does it do to you?

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Politics, Art, History, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Genderroles- Which do you have?

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Art, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Clothes - What do they say about us?

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Politics, History, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Intersectionality – then and now

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Art
Grade: 10 onwards

Calligraffiti- Connection of old and new

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

Khamsa - amulet as talisman?

Subject: Extracurricular Activities, Politics, Ethics/Religion
Grade: 10 onwards

"male" or "female" - What's the difference?!

360°-TOURS

EXPLORE TOPICS IN DEPTH

Virtual rooms invite you to discover the collection of the Museum for Islamic Art in an entirely new way. Here you’ll find exclusive text contributions, videos, musical compositions and objects that are sensory experiences for the eyes and ears.

Overview of 360°-Tours

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Gurbet Şarkıları – Songs from Foreign Lands

Music and Belonging between Turkey and Germany (1961-2021)

Gurbet Şarkıları – Lieder aus der Fremde

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Museum in Action

A look at the transformation of a permanent exhibition

360°-Tour

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Garden Paradise

Experience the magic of our living garden world

Gartenp

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Music in the Museum

A visual journey into the sound world of the museum

MEDIA LIBRARY

WATCH, LISTEN, READ

Discover the histories behind the collection and the projects of the Museum for Islamic Art through its films, interviews, audio and publications.

FIND MEDIA

10 Years of Multaka: Museum as a Meetingpoint
Bait Wakil – Reconstruction and Hope in Aleppo
Bait Wakil - Training and Restoration in Aleppo
Sounds from the soul – music between Almanya and Germany
Catalogue of Damage – Architectural Heritage
Multaka Talks - Conversations Across Museums
CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future Film
CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future Copyright : Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future
Sini calligraphy
Colours from fire – technology and history of ceramic mosaics
Islam - a view from within
The sound of reviving - Razan Nassreddine

RESEARCH

SEARCH THE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM FOR ISLAMIC ART

Find all kinds of information on objects and works in the online database of the Museum for Islamic Art. Data on over 12,500 objects from the collection are available online and are constantly expanded and updated by our employees.

SEARCH FOR EXHIBITS