Amraiz Khan
An exhibition titled “Makkah and Madina” was organised at Alhamra Art Gallery on Sunday, in collaboration with the Russian embassy.
The exhibition was based on photographs depicting the historical status of the holy cities of Makkah and Madina in different periods, said a press release issued here.
State Museum of Oriental Art (Moscow, Russia) Director General Alexander V Sedov inaugurated the show.
At the exhibition’s opening, Sedov thanked the Lahore Arts Council for organising the event and said that the exhibition was aimed at showing the uniqueness of the visual tradition in the Islamic art.
Sedov said that the pictorial canon (which may have originated in the era of early Islam) was reflected in the miniatures of “Dalail Al-Khairat” by Al-Ja- Zuli (15th century). He said that later it found its logical continuation in the ‘Tatar shamail’ (religious paintings).
The exhibition featured previously unknown miniatures as well as Ottoman, Tatar, Pakistani and Indian shamails depicting Makkah and Madina from the collections of the State Museum of Oriental Art, the Scientific Library of the Kazan Federal University, the Marjani Foundation, Russian State Library, Novosibirsk Scientific Library, Yalta Museum and others.
A number of people participated in the exhibition and appreciated the organizers’ efforts.
