The Islamic art collection of the Benaki Museum ranks among the most important in the world. It covers 13 centuries of artistic creation and comprises representative works of superb quality and major historical importance. Antonis Benakis, a member of a distinguished and affluent Greek family of Alexandria, active in the social, political and cultural life of the local Egyptian community and, later on, of Greece, assembled these works in Egypt during the last decades of the 19th century.
The Benaki Museum's collection of Islamic Art includes more than 10,000 objects, representing civilizations that flourished in the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and North Africa, up to Sicily and Spain, and from Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor to Mesopotamia, Iran, Central Asia and India.
Among these objects are many outstanding works from major centres of Islamic culture; they testify to the importance of cities such as Makkah, Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad. These objects also bear testimony to the eras of the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid dynasties, the Seljuqs, the Ayyubbids and the Mamluks, the Ottomans, the Mongols and the Timurids, the Safavids and the Qajars.
The Museum of Islamic Art is situated in the historical center of Athens in an area of important archaeological sites with ancient monuments such as the ancient Kerameikos necropolis and is not far from the Acropolis. The building complex comprises two neoclassical buildings from the turn of the 19th century. Visitors enter through a spacious lobby on the ground floor and as they proceed, they are faced with a view of the basement area, which displays a well-preserved part of a substantial section of the ancient wall of Athens from the 4th century BC.
Further on, the museum is organized in four rooms revealing the significance of the collection that is in the artistic and historical importance of its objects, which in certain instances are unique. These include numerous works of special significance such as a renowned universal astrolabe by the astronomer Ahmad Ibn Al-Sarraj from Syria, made in 1328 for Muhammad Al-Tanuhhi and a 16th-century velvet saddle cover from Bursa. The pottery collection is particularly rich and famous.
Among these pieces are ceramics from the Fatimid period of the 10th to 11th centuries from Egypt, distinguished for the superb ornamentation of their luster painting, various groups from 11th to 14th century Iran and the well-known Ottoman ceramics from Iznik.
Of particular interest is a large spherical object which was probably part of the furnishings of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem during the renovation by Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century. From the jewelry collection it is worth mentioning an Iraqi 9th-century amulet with Kufic script from the Holy Qur'an, an elaborate Iraqi belt ornament from Samarra dating from the 10th century and a 12th-century pair of earrings from Spain.
Greece, situated on the crossroads between East and West, is in close proximity to the Middle East and has historically enjoyed good relations with the Arab world. Intellectual and cultural influences of Eastern civilizations are found in all periods of Greek culture.
It is therefore essential for this institution to present in the best possible way the culture of the people of Islamic lands, to reveal basic characteristics and qualities as well as its diversity throughout the centuries.
The collection, which is a tribute to the beauty and sophistication of the arts of Islamic lands, we hope to be able to exhibit in Saudi Arabia.
