Immerse Yourself

Date: Last updated on July 12, 2022

Explore the eye-catching beauty of the Aga Khan Museum with virtual tours of our indoor and outdoor spaces.

Rumi

Journey through the life and timeless legacy of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi (d. 1273), known as Rumi, in an inspiring exhibition celebrating one of history's most famous poets, on the 750th anniversary of his passing. Join us as we explore Rumi's enduring impact through an examination of artifacts, manuscripts, and contemporary art. Learn more about Rumi.

Visit Rumi from the comfort of home in 3D

Afghanistan My Love

Featuring the work of art collective ArtLords and Afghan-Canadian artist Shaheer Zazai, Afghanistan My Love is a contemporary exhibition that demonstrates how art can be used as a powerful medium for connection during times of adversity.

Click here to visit Afghanistan My Love in 3-D.

Hakan Topal: The Golden Cage

Blending video, sound, text, and artifacts, The Golden Cage explores the impact of human intervention on the life of one of the most endangered bird species across the highly nationalized terrain of the Turkish-Syrian border.

Click here to experience The Golden Cage in 3-D.

The Gwillim Project: Birds Gallery Rotation

Take flight on a journey through the ages as you encounter fascinating sights and stories within the Aga Khan Museum's newest gallery rotation: Birds.

Within the larger Birds rotation, you’ll find featured installations by British painter Elizabeth Gwillim, which examines the transformation of natural history studies in India between the 1600s and 1800s, by pairing five life-size watercolour paintings with four paintings from the Museum’s Permanent Collection.

Click here to experience The Gwillim Project in 3-D.

IMAGE? The Power of the Visual

IMAGE? The Power of the Visual explores image-making over the centuries through the lens of historic and contemporary artworks from diverse Muslim cultures. The exhibition reflects on humanity’s timeless preoccupation with images and their capacity to project power, reflect inner spiritual or poetic visions, give expression to ideals held dear, or express key aspects of identity.

Click here to explore IMAGE? in 3-D, and click here to learn more about the exhibition.

*Terms and Conditions Apply

Visually, 30 stained-glass mosaics overlooking the Museum have little in common with 24 tons of blue rubber mulch — the same kind used in playgrounds to guard children against serious injury — piled into the reflecting pools in the Aga Khan Park.

Delve deeper, though, and you will discover that both installations are clever, eye-catching commentaries on invisible power structures that shape how we navigate the world.

Click here to explore *Terms and Conditions Apply in 3-D, and click here to learn more about the exhibition.

Rust Garden

Rust Garden is a contemporary art installation by Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel. It consists of more than 700,000 decaying low-carbon steel letters in a 5-by-7-metre sandbox. The assortment of letters isn’t random. Rather, they are a jumble of every letter that appears in Canadian writer Hugh Maclennan’s classic 1945 novel Two Solitudes.

Explore Rust Garden in 3-D by clicking here, and go here to learn more about the installation.

Hidden Stories

Explore the Silk Roads through the lens of one of humanity's most cherished communication tools in our 2021 marquee exhibition, Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads.

As you explore Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads, you will encounter books, scrolls, manuscript paintings, and textiles that shaped — not just documented — life along one of history’s most important trade networks and beyond.

Explore Hidden Stories on a 3-D virtual tour, and go here to learn more about the exhibition.

State of Play

What do a ball, stick, rope, and hoop represent to you? And what do they say about the role of play in how humans learn how to interact with each other and the world?

The 2021 exhibition State of Play shows the transformative nature of the games people play. Explore the show's gleaming installations on a 3-D virtual tour, and go here to learn more about the exhibition.

Remastered

Remastered is the Museum’s digitally activated celebration of timeless Iranian, Ottoman, and Mughal Indian manuscript paintings in our Collection. On this 3-D virtual tour of the exhibition, bask in the resplendent beauty of these masterpieces. As you explore, click on the featured works to uncover digital interactives developed in partnership with Ryerson University Library

Sanctuary

In Sanctuary, 36 contemporary leading artists meditate on the theme of sanctuary through the unexpected medium of traditionally woven rugs. These arresting artworks challenge viewers to think about sanctuary in the context of conflict, mass migration, and the personal quest to arrive and belong.

On this 3-D virtual tour of Sanctuary, contemplate the exhibition's contemporary artworks as well as an innovative gallery design created in collaboration with MIT-based artist, scholar, and activist Dr. Azra Akšamija.

Originally organized by the FOR-SITE Foundation, Sanctuary is supported by Partners in Art, Mohammad and Najla Al Zaibak (Bay Tree Foundation), and the Global Patrons of the Aga Khan Museum.

Photograph by Toni Hafkenscheid.

The Moon: A Voyage through Time 3-D Tour

The Moon: A Voyage through Time grabbed headlines and captivated audiences when it materialized at the Museum in 2019. Featuring lunar-inspired artifacts from the Museum’s Collection and masterworks from cultural institutions around the world, the exhibition entreated visitors to reflect on the moon’s magnificence and its influence on art, world religions, and daily life.

Experience the phenomenon again on this 3-D virtual tour of The Moon: A Voyage through Time.

Photograph by Aly Manji.

Collections Gallery 3-D Tour

Experience the #MuseumFromHome on a 3-D tour of the Aga Khan Museum’s Collections Gallery.

At any given time, about 200 objects from the more than 1,000 in the Museum’s Collection are on display. The artifacts offer a window into the towering artistic, intellectual, and scientific contributions of Muslim civilizations to world history and heritage.

Start your 3-D tour of the Museum's Collection's Gallery here.

Photograph by Janet Kimber.

Emperors and Jewels 3-D Tour

In mid-2018, the Aga Khan Museum’s second-floor gallery was adorned with opulent gems in preparation for the opening of Emperors and Jewels. Running from August 2018 to January 2019, the exhibition boasted eye-popping jewellery from the Mughal Indian courts. As great patrons of the jewelled arts, which blended Central Asian, Persian, and Indian traditions, the Mughals contributed to a flowering of creativity and craftsmanship in India from the 16th to 19th centuries.

Discover the deep roots of contemporary fashion’s love affair with men’s jewellery on this 3-D virtual tour of Emperors and Jewels: Treasures from the Indian Court, from the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait.

Photograph by Adrian Armstrong. 

The World of the Fatimids 3-D Tour

The Museum’s 2018 exhibition The World of the Fatimids bore witness to a remarkable dynasty that built one of the world’s oldest universities, compiled one of its greatest libraries, and fostered a flowering of the arts and sciences. At its height in the 10th and 11th centuries, the Fatimids established one of the greatest civilizations in the world, influencing knowledge and culture throughout the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Near East.

Get up close and personal with the legacy of this extraordinary society on a 3-D virtual tour of the exhibition The World of the Fatimids.

Atrium 3-D tour

The concept of light was the inspiration for Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki’s design for the Aga Khan Museum.

See the idea brought to life on this 3-D virtual tour of our atrium space.

Photograph by Tom Arban.

Caravans of Gold 3-D tour

Relive the Museum exhibition Caravans of Gold: Fragments in Time on this 3-D virtual tour.  

Experience the first major exhibition to reveal the shared history of western Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from the 8th to 16th centuries. Immerse yourself in art and artifacts from the western Sahara’s unsung golden age, where African kingdoms possessed riches the Earth had never seen.

Our Sustainable Future photography exhibition 3-D tour

Peer into the future Toronto youth plan to build for themselves on a virtual tour of an exhibition of student photography at the Aga Khan Museum.

In the late summer of 2019, the Museum displayed snapshots by 20 newcomer youth in the city. The high schoolers had participated in a Fredric Roberts Photography Workshop, an eight-day course designed to empower students with a new skill — the art of telling visual stories. They then pointed their lenses at their own communities, focusing in on their current reality and visualizing the progress they hoped to see down the road.

The students' stories found a home in Our Sustainable Future, a Museum exhibition documenting their vision for the world of tomorrow. Click here to commence your tour 3-D of the show, and go to the Fred Roberts website to read blog entries written by the student photographers who contributed to the collection.

Photograph by Zeina Alibsai.

Bellerive Room 3-D tour

If you have never relaxed in our Bellerive Room — or if you have and can’t wait to return — enjoy it from your living room on this 3-D tour.

The Bellerive Room is the Museum’s version of a classy but comfortable living space. It holds a selection of ceramics from the collection of the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and Princess Catherine Aga Khan. The 60 pieces on display date from the early Islamic periods right up to the 17th century and showcase the craftsmanship of Muslim potters from China to Europe. You can read about these objects from the labels that have been added to this virtual tour. 

The room’s design is a loving recreation of a salon in the couple’s Château de Bellerive in Switzerland, where part of the collection was originally on view.

Photograph by Tom Arban.