From Souk to the Museum of Islamic Art and Civilization.

Rising from the historical heart of Sharjah, UAE, on the Majarrah Waterfront, the Islamic Museum of Sharjah was opened on 5th June 2008 in Sharjah under the patronage of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah. Designed by the award-winning Haley Sharpe Design Ltd, the 8000 m² the Museum is considered the first of its kind as a centre for Islamic art and civilization in the UAE, presenting the distinct Islamic heritage with unique artefacts and manuscripts.

Converted from a souk into a three floor museum of Islamic art and culture, the Museum encompasses 7 galleries including 4 galleries of Islamic art and culture, a gallery focusing upon faith based artefacts including Qur'ans, architectural models, photographs and paintings, a gallery telling the story of Islamic science and innovation using working models and interactive manuscripts and a temporary exhibition gallery.

The site also provides visitors with a café, tourist information, retail offer and education facilities. Demonstrating the diversity of the Islamic art and science, the Museum’s unique items are the clay, pottery and glass in addition to metallic handicrafts inlayed with silver, gold and brass. The Islamic Museum of Sharjah is the result of five-years of hard work conducted by Haley Sharpe Design in co-operation with the government of Sharjah to maintain a contemporary clean aesthetic which is intended to be sympathetic to the existing building and provide a backdrop to the intricate and beautiful objects of Islamic art and culture.

Haley Sharpe Design was inspired by its understanding of Islamic and Arab culture, drawn from the diverse and multi-cultural aspect of the company’s projects. With over 25 years experience in the design and production of interpretative and interactive exhibitions, museum branding, signage, and wayfinding, Haley Sharpe is considered the largest specialist design company in the UK. Moreover, Haley Sharpe has more than 15 years experience working in the Middle East region. Haley Sharpe’s scope included every aspect of the project from the initial master planning, architectural coordination, design and manufacture of all the exhibition displays, audio visual content and film production, research and text writing, graphic artwork and production. “Coordinating the internal multi-displinary design team and working with the architectural and client teams to deliver His Highnesses’ vision was our role with this unique project” said Alisdair Hinshelwood, HSD'sMD and project leader /designer for the project.

“Creating a museum of Islamic art and culture to display His Highnesses’ personal collection of Islamic artefacts and celebrate the art, beauty and craftsmanship of Islamic art are the main objectives of the Islamic Museum. As a team we were keen to visualise through the design process the sympathetic conversion of a traditional souk building into a contemporary, international standard museum.”

He added that “the use of a contemporary and sympathetic palette of colours and materials to provide a neutral backdrop for the artefacts and architecture was the core intrinsic characteristic of the Museum. This is interspersed with highlights of colour inspired by Arabic decoration and ornamentation.”

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