Introducing the art of Arabic, Ottoman, & Persian calligraphy

Museums and Organizations

These organizations support and showcase the work of Arabic, Ottoman, & Persian calligraphy.

Museums & Image Collections

The Asia Society

Website: https://asiasociety.org/
Location: USA

The Asia Society’s Creative Voices of Muslim Asia Initiative has sponsored exhibits such as Traces of the Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God (2009).

Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

Website: https://www.iamm.org.my
Location: Malaysia

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia houses more than ten thousand artifacts, as well as an exceptional library of Islamic art books.

The Khalili Collections

Website: https://www.khalilicollections.org
Location: USA

The largest private collection of Islamic art, with 28,000 items including 2,000 ceramics and 600 items of jewellery.

The Library of Congress

Website: https://www.loc.gov
Location: USA

There are approximately 355 Islamic calligraphic items in the Library’s collections; these are mostly works on paper or parchment.

National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian)

Website: https://asia.si.edu
Location: USA

The Freer and Sackler together hold one of the country’s finest collections of the arts of the Islamic world, with particular strengths in illustrated manuscripts and ceramics among the more than 2,200 objects.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Website: https://www.metmuseum.org
Location: USA

The Met’s collection of Islamic art ranges in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century. Its more than 15,000 objects reflect the great diversity and range of the cultural traditions of Islam.

Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo

Website: https://miaegypt.org/
Location: Egypt

The mission of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) is to display, preserve and interpret Islamic artifacts, including many with calligraphy.

Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Website: https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/
Location: Turkey

Spanning a period from the 14th to 20th century, Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection contains many stellar examples of Ottoman calligraphy.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Website: https://www.vam.ac.uk
Location: United Kingdom

The V&A holds over 19,000 items from the Middle East and North Africa, ranging from the early Islamic period (the 7th century) to the early 20th century.

The Walters Art Museum

Website: https://thewalters.org
Location: USA

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland has a large collection of digitized Islamic manuscripts and other objects.

Calligraphy & Arts Organizations

IRCICA

Website: https://www.ircica.org
Location: Turkey

IRCICA promotes the study of traditional Islamic calligraphy through publications and competitions. Based in Istanbul.

Scripts ‘n’ Scribes

Website: https://www.scriptsnscribes.com
Location: USA

Scripts ‘n’ Scribes is passionate about bringing together those who seek knowledge of Arabic Calligraphy and other traditional arts and the accomplished teachers and masters of those art.

Reed Society for the Sacred Arts

Website: https://www.reedsociety.co
Location: USA

Through the hosting of events, workshops, lectures, performances, and galleries, the Reed Society’s mission is to create a paradigm shift in how the public approaches art.

Ketebe.org

Website: https://www.ketebe.org/en
Location: Turkey

Ketebe.org is an Islamic Arts portal with a large database of artists in the Turkish, Arabic and English languages. Features calligraphers in the Ottoman tradition.

Iranian Calligraphers Association of North America (ICANA)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/ICANApage/
Location: Canada

Facebook group for Iranian Calligraphers, based in Toronto.