Virtual museum provides access to Arabian treasures with just a click

The heritage of Islam has too frequently been wrecked by war, and as conflict erupts again in the region there are fears for the conservation of ancient sites. But one organisation has found a virtual way of protecting our heritage for future generations.

Sites like the Madrasa of Amir Bardabak in Gaza, which was destroyed by Israeli bombing in July, are preserved in the Museum With No Frontiers. Courtesy www.museumwnf.org

With one click, the story behind the Great Mosque – one of the most important sites in Aleppo, Syria – comes alive with photos, background, and even its Google Maps location.

“Built by the Umayyads on the grounds of a Byzantine cathedral ... restored and rebuilt over the centuries, the only Atabeg vestiges extant are a few arches in its eastern courtyard and the splendid minaret, founded by the cadi Ibn Al Khashshab during the rule of the Atabeg, Aq Sunqur in 483/1090”.

So reads the "explore" section of a mammoth project and website, the Museum With No Frontiers. Anyone interested in exploring the vast treasures of Islamic civilisation just needs to go to this fascinating online portal www.museumwnf.org and click – and click and click.

Those who do can experience what the museum calls “slow travelling”, discovering more than 510 locations in 14 countries that are rarely covered in travel guides, and sites that are difficult to find elsewhere, with background information from local experts.

“Museum With No Frontiers highlights treasures that may otherwise remain hidden or unknown to non-experts,” says Eva Schubert, the founder, chairwoman and chief executive of MWNF.

“What makes it unique is that each country’s experts, writers, scholars and photographers are the ones who are submitting the work, mostly at their own expense, so it remains organic with a home-grown perspective.”

For the Great Mosque, there are details about everything related to the structure, including its minaret, which until the current war in Syria was featured on many postcards or imagery coming out of Aleppo.

“One of the great masterpieces of medieval Aleppo,” reads the description, noting that the 45 metre tower, with its stone-carved inscriptions along its friezes, offers angular and cursive designs “including some of Syria’s best examples of Atabeg kufic calligraphy”.

A quick click to Bosra, also in Syria, and then to the Fatima Mosque, brings up one of the latest casualties of the continuing conflict. The reader discovers that although it is dedicated to the venerated daughter of the Prophet Mohammed, the mosque is actually “a medieval structure”.

These two sites, along with four other World Heritage Sites in the Syrian Arab Republic, are now on Unesco’s list of World Heritage in Danger.

“In some areas we are reaching the point of no return where Syria’s cultural heritage is concerned,” warns Irina Bokova, director general of Unesco.

“The destruction of heritage represents a cultural haemorrhage, in addition to the tragic humanitarian crisis and suffering experienced by the people of Syria.”

Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the MWNF, with funding support from the European Union and other sources, was started with the aim of creating “an alliance of civilisations” and inspiring a different type of tourism, providing virtual exhibitions of cultural, historical and artistic pieces and sites from across the world’s museums and centres.

Two decades later, the multilingual website has became a site of preservation and reference for historic sites and monuments that are constantly being lost or destroyed across a turbulent region.

Examples of sites destroyed by war in Gaza but saved for eternity on MWNF include the Great Umari Mosque: “A composite of several architectural styles that developed during various successive periods; the most important of which was the Mamluk. The oldest part has a basilica plan, dating to the Crusader period.”

Meanwhile another site, the Madrasa of Amir Bardabak (Al Mahkama Mosque), was built in 859 / 1454-1455. Its major function was education and “during the Ottoman period the mosque was used as the religious court... during the British Mandate it was used as a boys’ madrasa and called the Madrasa Al Shuja’iyya Al Amiriyya.”

Not all the sites have been damaged by war – terrorism has taken its toll, too. This year a bomb ripped apart the building housing the Museum of Islamic Arts and the National Library at Bab El Khalq in Cairo.

Both feature in detail on the MWNF, in sections devoted to discovering Islamic art. Items destroyed in the blast included gold dinar coins dating to the 9th century, which bore the name of the Abbasid Caliph and under it the name of Ahmad ibn Tulun, ruler of Egypt.“Coin minting as a sign of power and sovereignty was practised under the Muslim caliphs and sultans, who put their names on the coins,” reads the information. The coins now exist only in the virtual museum.

Always expanding, and featuring new projects and exhibitions, a “cultural bridging and cooperation” is at the heart of MWNF, says Ms Schubert.

She was visiting the UAE as a guest of a two-day symposium at the American University of Sharjah, entitled Islamic Civilisation in the 21st Century: Global Perspectives – a collaboration between the university and Sharjah Museums Department.

The virtual Museum With No Frontiers is free of charge and staffed mainly by passionate volunteers. Countries and institutions pay a set fee to participate.

Over the years MWNF has formed partnerships with organisations such as the Arab League and museums across the world.

“It all started with my worry over ancient and rare artefacts and objects that have to be flown in for major exhibitions,” says Ms Schubert, who has a theatrical background and organised international cultural events and exhibitions before launching MWNF.

“I thought, why not bring the visitors to the artefacts instead. Preserving the items and at the same time, introducing the site or object in its natural environment will promote local heritage and more in-depth understanding of a country’s history and cultural relevance to other civilisations.

“One of the core philosophies of the project is that we are not defined by a single national identity, but a global one that accepts and embraces all identities.”

Islamic heritage in Arab and non-Arab countries is one of those projects and has various aspects, such as the "Discover Islamic Art" section. It features 18 exhibitions, 1,235 artefacts from 40 museums, and monuments and archaeological sites from 14 countries.

“In connection with Discover Islamic Art and within our partnership with the League of Arab States, we produced a manual for teachers in Arab countries to explain the possibilities of using the Virtual Museum as an educational tool,” said Ms Schubert.

MWNF has also collaborated on 17 travel books dedicated to entire historical and cultural experiences in different countries, including seven Arab countries. The "Mamluk" experience in Egypt includes eight itineraries that will lead visitors to discover 51 museums, monuments and sites in Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta.

“What is interesting is that we are reintroducing to the people, like for instance the Arabs, their own history as collected and presented by experts from their own country,” says Ms Schubert.

“Sometimes something can be right in front of you, and you take it for granted until its importance and relevance is highlighted to you in an elegant and simple way.”