Content Tagged with London
The Ismaili Centre Roof Garden is one of London’s hidden gems. The serene setting of this beautiful courtyard style garden draws from the traditions of Islamic faith that have inspired outstanding buildings for many centuries throughout the world.
A ‘lover’ to be, I saw you many a time but ignored you. Yet thousands would have eloped with you, I knew nothing of you.
How have arts and cultural organisations handled the events of 2020? Panellists from some of London’s most renowned institutions discussed this question at The Covid Culture Shock, an online event hosted last week by the Ismaili Centre, London.
The Right Honourable Dominic Raab MP, the First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary was welcomed to the Ismaili Centre London in March, in the lead up to the occasion of Navroz
Thirty-five years ago, on 24 April 1985, a moment of great historical significance for the global Jamat took place. The Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher — then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom — officially opened the Ismaili Centre, London, in the presence of Mawlana Hazar Imam. This was the community’s first purpose-built, bespoke Jamatkhana and Centre in the western world.
On 17 December 2019, Naureen Karim Shariff was conferred with the Freedom of the City of London in a ceremony officiated in the presence of family, friends, and colleagues at the esteemed Chamberlain’s Court at The Guildhall in London.
On 10 October, Prince Rahim visited the Ismaili Centre, London to inaugurate the exhibition: Dreams and Dystopias, East Africa at the Crossroads, featuring photographic work by Guillaume Bonn.
Dreams and Distopias: East Africa at the Crossroads is the fourth exhibition to be held in the Zamana Space at the Ismaili Centre, London since its reopening earlier this year. The visual exhibit navigates the East African coastline through the lens of international artist Guillaume Bonn, to reveal a region perennially poised at a crossroads between two worlds.
On a crisp autumnal morning in London’s King’s Cross, Mawlana Hazar Imam welcomed Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Aga Khan Centre, for a special event to celebrate the culture and heritage of Pakistan, and the contributions of the Pakistani diaspora to British society.
At the Aga Khan Centre on 2 October 2019, Mawlana Hazar Imam hosted Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The special event provided a platform for guests whose interests and engagements encompass the wide-ranging relationship between the UK and Pakistan, including members of the Pakistani diaspora making a meaningful contribution to society in the United Kingdom and beyond.
Prince Amyn visited the Ismaili Centre, London, on 4 July to officially open the Seeing Through Babel exhibition, the first public exhibit at the Centre’s newly reopened Zamana Space.
Kevork Mourad's six-metre high, three-dimensional graphic artwork, entitled Seeing Through Babel, is the first public exhibit to be installed at the reopened Zamana Space, and celebrates a partnership between the Ismaili Centre, London and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.
A year ago today, on 26 June 2018, the Aga Khan Centre was inaugurated by Mawlana Hazar Imam and HRH The Prince of Wales at a special ceremony in London’s thriving Knowledge Quarter. Over the past year, the design features of the building and its gardens, as well as its programme of activities, have come to represent the principles of openness, dialogue, and pluralism.
Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is celebrated on 21 June every year. On this day, musicians around the world are urged to play and listen to music outdoors in their neighbourhoods, or in gardens, parks, and public spaces. In the lead-up to the occasion earlier this month, thousands of people gathered to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr at the London Eid Festival 2019 in Trafalgar Square, where they were treated to a special performance by the UK Jamat’s Ismaili Community Ensemble.
On a spring evening last month in London, The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) launched their newest publication, entitled The First Aga Khan: Memoirs of the 46th Ismaili Imam. The book covers a significant period of Ismaili history and sheds light on the remarkable life and career of the 46th Ismaili Imam - Mawlana Hasan Ali Shah.
The First Aga Khan: Memoirs of the 46th Ismaili Imam was recently launched by the Institute of Ismaili Studies. Part of the Ismaili Texts and Translations Series, the book was published in honour of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Diamond Jubilee. It is the first English translation of the original Persian manuscript, ‘Ibrat-afza, which was composed by Imam Hasan Ali Shah in 1850.
For communities residing among the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan, music is part of everyday life, appreciated and practiced at every opportunity. On 28 March 2019, Nobovar Chanorov and the Shams group of music artists shared a medley of Pamiri sounds to an enthralled audience at the Ismaili Centre, London.
We humans share our culture through many forms of creative expression, which together embody the arts. Arts encompass multiple ways of channelling creative impulses through poetry and literature, visual, imaginary, and performance. Over time, culture informs, shapes, and transforms the way human society comes to present various art forms which it learns to cherish and covet as civilisations evolve and progress.
The songs and stories of the Middle East and South Asia are infused with sensations, fragrances, tastes, and colours; the depth of which were conveyed by Harvard Professor Ali Asani, and Pakistani singer and author Ali Sethi, in a unique format at the Ismaili Centre London.
