A white granite box by Fumihiko Maki holding Islamic art, in a park in suburban Toronto, and worth the journey.
Opened in 2014, the Aga Khan Museum is the only museum in North America dedicated to the arts of Muslim civilisations, and it exists because the Aga Khan chose Toronto — explicitly citing Canada’s pluralism — over several other candidate cities.
The building
Fumihiko Maki, the Pritzker-winning Japanese architect, designed it: a low white Brazilian granite box around a glazed inner courtyard, with angled walls and patterned glass screens that throw geometric light across the floors through the day.
Next to it is the Ismaili Centre, a place of congregation designed by Charles Correa, with a translucent crystalline dome.
Between them is a formal garden by Vladimir Djurovic — five reflecting pools in a granite plaza, on the chahar bagh pattern. It is free to walk through and is at its best at dusk.
The whole complex sits in a park beside the Don Valley Parkway, which is an unlikely location and part of the point.
The collection
Around 1,000 objects spanning a thousand years and the territory from Spain to China.
Manuscripts and calligraphy — including illustrated Shahnameh folios, a Qur’an in Kufic on blue vellum, and Mughal miniatures.
Ceramics from Iznik, Kashan and Nishapur. Metalwork, astrolabes and scientific instruments. Textiles. Persian and Indian painting.
The Bellini portrait believed to be of Mehmed II is among the holdings.
The permanent gallery is not enormous, and the museum programmes strongly — temporary exhibitions, a 350-seat auditorium with a serious music and performance programme, and a restaurant, Diwan, which is genuinely good and takes bookings.
Getting there
This is the one drawback. It is in North York, about 12 kilometres from downtown, in a business park beside a motorway.
Subway Line 1 or 2 to Eglinton, then bus 34 east — around 50 minutes from downtown in total. Driving takes 25 minutes and there is parking.
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5) runs along Eglinton Avenue and will improve this considerably; its opening has been repeatedly delayed, so check whether it is running.
Practicalities
Ticketed, with free entry on Wednesday evenings at various points — check the current arrangement.
Allow three hours in the building plus travel. Closed Mondays.
More Museums
Royal Ontario Museum
Canada's largest museum, with a Libeskind crystal crashing through the front of it that the city has never agreed about.
Art Gallery of Ontario
Frank Gehry's only Canadian building, in the neighbourhood he grew up in, holding the largest collection of Canadian art anywhere.
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Stanley Cup, in a former bank hall with a stained-glass dome, and you are allowed to touch it.