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Culture Shot

We're expecting out-of-town visitors in a couple of days, so I prepared an itinerary of what to do and where to go to in Kuwait to save them some time. And while drafting the list, a friend of mine suggested that I take them to Tareq Rajab Museum of Islamic Calligraphy located in Jabria, so I decided to visit it first myself since I haven't been there before.  I was quite impressed of the museum's huge collection of calligraphic art and artifacts such as manifest in hangings, ancient Qurans, and carved stones and wood collected from different parts of the world like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Indonesia to name a few. In some sections of the museum, I was reminded of the material displayed at The Islamic Museum during my last visit to Doha. And Even though the display was somewhat organized (some rooms were too cluttered), a lot of the sections on display did no have any description or info for the pieces displayed.  So I couldn't really appreciate the value of what I was seeing. I wish the people in charge of the museum can work on that. Nevertheless, it is something you have to see if you live in Kuwait or plan t visit soon. Scroll down to view some of the pieces currently on display. 

Carved stones decorated with arabic calligraphy from Daghestan Circa 15th - 16th centuries.

One of my favorite sections was the massive belt of the holy Kabba hanging on the wall. One of the pieces (first one on left) was made during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan in the year 1306 AH (1889 AD)

A long epigraphic panel from a mosque from Egypt, Mamluk Period in the 14th or early 15th century. The panel has a qutation from Qura'an Sura 76 of SUrat AL Insan.

An old photo from the 19th century of the Kiswa (or the covering of the holy Kaaba which used to be made in Egypt every year, until the late King Abdul Aziz Bin Sa'aud changed that old tradition and created a workshop in Mekka where the kiswa was made. The kiswa is usually made of gold and silver threads.


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Comments

rawan said…
it looks great! i would love to visit the place next time im in kuwait,, thank you for this post
17 September, 2011
Confashion said…
rawan
You're more than welcome :)
20 September, 2011
Riaz mohamed said…
MAASHAALLAH. What a great find. Do you by any chance know the size if the door hangings in your third photo?
22 February, 2014
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