Light Up the Dark 2021

Date: December 27–30, 6 pm–9 pm
Price: Postponed

This event has been postponed due to new COVID-19 restrictions issued by the Government of Ontario. Visit our Tickets and Hours page to review the Museum's updated Special Holiday Hours. 

See the Aga Khan Museum’s breathtaking exterior transform into a magical map-scape of colour and light on four evenings in late December.

The Museum’s Light Up the Dark celebration returns with spectacular new light projections created by OCAD University students. Each animation celebrates a different masterpiece in the Museum’s Collection, from the 400-year-old, 18.5-square-metre marble and sandstone fountain in the Collection Gallery to lushly detailed manuscripts paintings from 16th-century Iran. 

Elevating the experience will be a mesmerizing score dreamed up by music students at Humber College. Designed to amplify the drama of viewing the animations dance across the Museum’s west façade, these original compositions reveal surprising interconnections between the cultures represented in the Museum’s Collection and artistic traditions from around the world.  

Enjoy coffee or chai as you feast your eyes and ears on the entertainment. Or sample irresistible flavours from South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa at Diwan, the Museum’s renowned restaurant.

Special extended hours

The Museum’s galleries will be open until 9 pm for the festivities. Seize this opportunity to explore Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Road, the new Sound and Music rotation in the Museum Collection Gallery, gaze in awe at Ghazaleh Avarvazamani’s stained-glass installation, and spell out your idea of Canadian identity with Rust Garden.

Light Up the Dark runs December 27 to 30 from 6 pm to 9 pm. The outdoor projections and admission to the Museum’s Collection Gallery are free. Tickets to the galleries are $10 per person for regular admission all day long throughout Light Up the Dark. Walk-in tickets to the galleries are free after 4 pm on Wednesday, December 29 (subject to availability). 

For everyone's safety, masks are required inside the Museum, and physical-distancing measures will be in effect. Visitors 12+ are required to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 to enter the Museum.