Egypt’s First Museum of Arabic Calligraphy Opens in Alexandria

On Saturday, Egypt opened its first Museum of Arabic Calligraphy, in the seaside city of Alexandria. Part of the renovation project for the whole Museum of Fine Arts complex, the new museum has been in the works since 2009:

An official statement has it that “the museum is specialized in the art and aesthetics of Arabic calligraphy and contains a collection of Arabic manuscript masterpieces created by artists of our current and past times.”

The space was designed by the Cairo-based firm Archinos Architecture.

It joins a handful of other Arabic-calligraphy museums.

The Damascus Museum of Arabic Calligraphy, in the al-Kallase neighborhood, was launched in 1974, although its current status, like much of Syria, is unclear. In Istanbul, the Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi has a focus on calligraphy, and a Turkish Calligraphy Art Museum opened in 1968. @NuqtaApp, which launched in 2013, promises to be a “user-generated mobile museum of Arabic typography and calligraphy.” There’s also an extensive calligraphy museum in the Sharjah Heritage Area in Sharjah, UAE.

A gallery of images from the Alexandria museum:

From the architects, the museum-in-progress  and plans and more in-progress photos

Youm7’s photos from the launch