Aga Khan's art riches on display

More than 200 items from the Aga Khan's collection of more than 1,000 years of Islamic art, one of the world's largest and most valuable, went on show in Germany yesterday for the first time.

The paintings, drawings, ceramics and wood carvings give a view of the variety and richness of an Islamic culture which, from the eighth to the 18th centuries, stretched from the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula to China.

The works on display in Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau until June 6 are from the collection of Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual head of the Ismaili Muslims who is regarded as a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The entire collection is due to be housed from 2013 onwards in the new Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada, in a new building designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki.