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Divine Inspirations
Remarkable items reflecting faith
The Mid-Antrim Museum at The Braid in Ballymena, County Antrim are collaborating with the Chester Beatty Library for their forthcoming exhibition Divine Inspiration: remarkable objects reflecting faith. This exhibition explores aspects of divine inspiration at a local level with the influential 1859 Ulster Revival and its legacy; and at an international level with remarkable artefacts from some of the great world religions from the collections of the Chester Beatty Library. In recent years local and international have come closer together with the growing religious diversity found in Northern Ireland. There is a companion booklet of the same title to accompany this exhibition avaliable from The Braid shop.
Divine Inspiration: remarkable objects reflecting faith exhibition will run from Friday 9 October 2009 to Saturday 14 February 2010. Admission is free.
Mid-Antrim Museum explores local identity and history of people and place, from the earliest times to the present day, set in its national and international context.
Mid-Antrim Museums Service acknowledges the kind permission of the Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library and the support of the Irish Government's Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Northern Ireland Museums Council.
Recent Publication
Islam: Faith, Art, Culture
Dr Elaine Wright, Curator of the Islamic Collections at the Library presents an authoritative introduction to the Islamic religion, covering both orthodox faith and popular piety, including the historical context of the divine revelation to the Prophet Muhammad, the contents of the Qur'an, Islamic calligraphy, the practice of the faith, the many prophets and other figures revered by Muslims, and Islamic mysticism. The reader is introduced to these aspects of the faith through the rich heritage of the Islamic book, and as such this volume presents a feast of matchless illustration and illumination, including magnificent examples of calligraphy, the art most highly revered in Islam.
The manuscripts (hand-written books) chosen to illustrate the text span the period from the 9th century to the early 20th although most were produced between about the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. They derive primarily from the Arab world, Turkey, Iran and India, but also include examples from Spain, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and China.
The manuscripts, and the concepts they deal with, are as relevant today as they were when they were produced, and as such they serve as ideal illustrations for this general introduction to Islam.
Price €27.00, on sale in the Library's shop.
This book has been in receipt of two awards:
29th ANNUAL GEORGE WITTENBORN BOOK AWARDS
On April 17, 2009 the 29th Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Awards were presented at the annual conference of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). Established in 1980 to honor the memory of premier New York City art book dealer and publisher George Wittenborn, the awards are given each year to North American art publications which represent the highest standards of content, documentation, layout, and format in art publishing. One outstanding book published in 2008 was selected to receive the 29th Annual George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award (Cai Guo-Qiang : I Want to Believe, by Thomas Krens and Alexandra Munroe) and a second was selected for Honorable Mention (Muraqqa‘, Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, by Elaine Wright; published by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia)
see: http://www.arlisna.org/news/press/wittenborn08.pdf
WASHINGTON BOOK PUBLISHERS 2008 BOOK DESIGN AND EFFECTIVENESS AWARDS
In May 2008, the catalogue, Muraqqa‘: Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin was awarded the top honor of BEST OF SHOW at the Washington Book Publishers 2008 Book Design and Effectiveness Awards.
Further information on Table of Contents and Chapter Excerpts can be found here.
For further information on the Library's Islamic Collections, please click here.
For news of future temporary exhibitions at the Library, please click here.