Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo

Museum of Islamic Art and Islamic Ceramics
The Museum of Islamic Art is one of the three main museums in Cairo and holds an excellent collection of objects from various periods of Islamic history in Egypt. Tourists interested in Islamic art and decoration should not miss this museum. The objects on display were gathered from many mosques and other monuments, which has made it one of the most important Islamic museums in the world.
The collection was originally housed in the National Library, built in 1881. The library was later moved and more space was made available for the exhibits.
These are objects from every era of Islamic rule, arranged either by period or by type. There are collections of textiles, glass, fabrics, ceramics and calligraphy from across the Muslim world. There are smaller collections of mosque lamps, intricate mashrabiya window screens, pulpits, metalwork, mosaics, Iranian and Turkish carpets and prayer mats displayed in 23 rooms. One hall is devoted to weapons, including medieval swords and armour; another displays illuminated Quran manuscripts, calligraphy and books, including some Persian miniatures. The oldest of the parchment fragments dates back to the 8th century.
Some treasures come from the former sites of Babylon and el-Fustat, the earliest city occupying Cairo. From Fustat there are wooden panels from the palace of the Fatimid caliph, showing scenes of life at the royal court, as well as frescoes and fragments of carpets.

There are many beautiful exhibits in the museum, labelled in Arabic, English and sometimes French. In the courtyard there is a 19th-century fountain that originally stood in the Monasterli Palace on Roda Island. The museum is rarely crowded, as most tourists concentrate on the pharaonic museum. There is a cafe on the grounds for refreshment.
It was recently proposed that the collection be moved to a site near the Citadel to make access easier for tourists, but the proposal was opposed on the grounds that the present building is itself historic.

Museum of Islamic Ceramics
The collection of Islamic ceramics comprises more than three hundred objects dating from the 10th to the 19th century AD. Among the ceramic objects you can see vases, tiles, bowls and more. It is housed in a recently restored neo-Islamic summer palace built in 1920 for Prince Amr Ibrahim. The collection includes Umayyad, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk, Turkish (Iznik and Kutahya) and Spanish ceramic pieces, which together show how Islam drew on ceramic work and synthesised Greco-Byzantine, Sassanian and Chinese techniques.
The collection can be found at the Gezira Art Centre, 1 Al-Sheikh Al-Marsafi Street, Zamalek.
The museum is open daily except Friday, 10:00 to 15:00 and 17:00 to 22:00.