Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage
Over the course of five decades, Professor Sir Nasser David Khalili has assembled eight of the world’s most important collections of art. Together they consist of over 35,000 objects, with each collection providing an exhaustive account of its subject. In acquiring, conserving, researching, exhibiting, publishing and digitising these collections, Sir David has contributed, significantly yet unostentatiously, to numerous fields of scholarship and in the process helped foster a greater understanding of the world’s traditions. One of these eight collections – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage – was compiled not only on the basis of its intrinsic aesthetic merit, but principally as a means of telling a complete visual story of Hajj and the importance of the sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina.
The Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of its kind. It contains over 5,000 objects that range in date from the 8th to the 21st centuries and geographically from China to India and around the globe to Morocco and the United Kingdom. They include Qur’ans, illustrated manuscripts, rare books, scientific instruments, textiles, coins, paintings, prints and photo-postcards, as well as archival material, unique historical documents and examples of the work of some of the earliest Muslim photographers of Hajj. The Collection therefore provides a comprehensive overview of Hajj, illustrating the religious, spiritual, cultural and artistic aspects of pilgrimage to the Holy Sanctuaries of Islam and the cosmopolitan nature of Hajj.
These volumes form a comprehensive catalogue of the holdings of the Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection:
Volume 1
Textiles
Volume 2
Manuscripts & Calligraphy
Volume 3
Photographs & Albums
Volume 4
Science, Coins, Ivory, Certificates, Metalwork, Pottery, Stone, Leather, Pearl, Templates, Tools, Ledgers
Volume 5.1
Printed Material
Volume 5.2
Printed Material
Volume 6
Postcards
Volume 7.1
Ephemera
Volume 7.2
Ephemera
