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1001 Inventions is an award-winning international science and cultural heritage organisation that raises awareness of the creative golden age of Muslim civilisation that stretched from Spain to China.
From the 7th century onwards, men and women of different faiths and cultures built on knowledge from ancient civilisations making breakthroughs that have left their mark on our world. Arab, Persian, Indian, Turkish, North African, Spanish, Sicilian and other nationalities and cultures formed this large area of Muslim Civilisation that included men and woman scholars of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sabean, Hindu and other faiths.
Knowledge from Assyrian, Babylonian, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Persian and Roman civilisations was highly prized in the Muslim Civilisation. Scholars advanced science by building upon ancient wisdom, making breakthroughs that have had a huge but mostly unknown influence on our world.
This ‘golden age of discovery’ took place during the so-called ‘dark ages’ of Europe. Join '1001 Inventions' on a journey to the past to inspire a better future!
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Ibn Sina, or Avicenna, lived in Hamadan and Jurjan from 980 to 1037 CE, and acquired great fame in mediaeval European medicine. His encyclopaedic book Al Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) was translated into Latin at the end of the 12th century CE, and became a reference source for medical studies in the universities of Europe for 500 years!
Once a thriving centre of learning and culture, Timbuktu is home to notable architecture and one of the world’s greatest collections of ancient manuscripts. A West African city with a name long synonymous with the unknown edges of the world, Timbuktu flourished from trade in salt, gold and ivory and was part of the Mali Empire of the 14th century.
Amazing snapshots from Khiva (formerly known as Khawarizm) in Uzbekistan. The birth place of the famous mathematician Al-Khawarizmi (780 – 850 CE). A prosperous centre of learning during the Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation. (Source BBC)
Discover ceilings from buildings inspired by Islamic architecture where looking up is a spellbinding experience! Each has a design and a story of its own. Most of them are distinctive and unique in respect of their architecture and hold outstanding features.
Human life was highly valued during the Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation. The core essence of healing at the time can be summarised by 11th- century Ibn Sina in his book Canon when he said: “Medicine is a science, from which one learns the states of the human body…
1001 Inventions reveals 10 marvellous maps from Muslim Civilisation that include one of the earliest known maps of South Amercia and maps where the world appears upside down! A time when North was South and South was North, towards Mecca...
A fascinating article about Venice a few hundred years ago when it flourished as the hub of Europe’s trade with the lands to its east and south. It shows how Venice was a meeting point for commerce and culture, especially with the Muslim World.
If you think medical advice on healthy living - good nutrients, exercise and stress free existence is a modern medical practice, you might want to think again and join us to discover 5 medical books from 1,000 years ago that explored those exact topics.
1001 Inventions ran a creative writing competition that had writers from all over the world invited to submit a fictional short story based on the real lives of one of eleven scholars, adventurers and pioneers from Muslim civilisation. The stories of the winners in each category appear in this anthology, along with three other selected stories from the shortlisted entries.
Extraordinary women from different faiths and backgrounds worked alongside men in Muslim Civilisation to advance their societies. Those talented women are shining examples and role models of women who excelled in fields of poetry, literature, medicine, philosophy and mathematics. We pay tribute to some of those women on International Women’s Day (IWD2016).
Throughout history, trade routes played a central role in the transfer of goods and exchange of ideas between different parts of the world. The historic Silk Roads, which were a network of trade routes across land and sea that connected the lands from China across Asia to the Meditteranean...
Along the road from sympathetic magic and shamanism to scientific method, much trailblazing was carried out over a few centuries by scholars, alchemists, physicians and polymaths of the Muslim Middle East, and their rules, procedures and expectations are, to a great extent, practiced almost universally today.
Fully automated environmentally friendly water raising devices, pumps, windmills and more! Discover some of the most facinating devices from the Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation that brought creative innovative ideas helping to drive agriculture and industries from southern Spain to China.
At the height of the Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation, the Arabic language was the lingua franca that served as the language of science, poetry, literature, governance and art. A big movement of translation of Greek, Roman and other ancient books of science, philosophy and literature into Arabic gave a push for the continued success of Arabic taking centre stage of the old world.
From Ibn Al-Haytam’s optical lenses to a mosque lamp of Amir Qawsun, Muslim Civilisation played a major role in inspiring the growth of the glass industry. Mosques, houses and cities were transformed into centres of rich decoration with glass. Muslim Civilisation turned a craft into an industry, employing large numbers of workers.
Last year news regarding the discovery of a ring found on a Viking woman with the inscription 'To Allah' erupted in the media. Some named it the “mysterious ring”, some actively debated and made up theories of how or why it arrived in Sweden. It is worth noting however that this was not the only contact documented between the Viking and Muslim Civilisation.
Professor Glen Cooper discusses the Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation. During the European Dark Ages, when science, art and literature seemed to flounder for centuries, there actually was a lot of discover in places like Iraq, Persia and Syria. Professor Cooper explains how science of medicine, mathematics and astronomy flourished.
Over a thousand-year period in Muslim Civilisation, epoch-making discoveries such as the first record of a star system outside our own galaxy were made, and astronomical instruments were developed laying the foundation for modern-day astronomy. These included celestial globes, armillary spheres, sextants and astrolabes.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria is one of the wonders of the Ancient World. It was still a great tourist attraction well into the medieval period, and was visited by many travellers to the city that were impressed by its magnitude.
Maqamat Al-Hariri are frequently referenced on beautiful pictorial illustrations showcasing aspects of life from the Golden Age of Muslim civilisation. But what were the Maqamat?
The heyday of Baghdad was 1,200 years ago when it was the thriving capital of the Muslim civilisation. It was home to the House of Wisdom, an academy of knowledge that attracted brains from far and wide. From mathematics and astronomy to zoology, the academy was a major centre of research, thought and debate in Muslim Civilisation.
Stunning colours light up the Nasīr al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz, Iran. In this International Year of Light, photographer Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji captures what on the outside looks like a conventional mosque...
Jeannie Miller, an assistant professor in the department of near & Middle Eastern civilizations, is working on a manuscript examining The Book of Animals by al-Jahiz, a ninth-century Arabic writer and polymath. Al-Jahiz saw himself as a theologian and natural scientist, but is often miscast because of the risqué nature of some of his prose.
Paper, originally, was brought from China into Muslim Civilisation. From an art, Muslim Civilisation developed it into a major industry. Paper mills flourished across the Muslim World. The impact of Muslim Civilisations manufacture of paper helped paved the way for the printing revolution.
TIME TELLING MACHINES: Revealing 7 marvellous mechanical and water-powered clocks from early Muslim Civilisation. These sophisticated devices that defied the Middle Ages.
Though we may think of Timbuktu as the pre-eminent site of pre-colonial West African scholarship, we must remember that there were other places spanning across the Western and Central Sudan that were renowned for their tradition of teaching.
World Book Day is a yearly event first week of March, "designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world"*. On this occasion we highlight important 'must read books' from 1001 Inventions.
Visitors to the China Science Festival in Beijing sample “Ibn al-Haytham’s EyeScura” - a pin hole camera obscura at the "1001 Inventions and the World of Ibn Al-Haytham" Zone.
China’s largest science festival launches with the new production “1001 Inventions and the World of Ibn Al-Haytham” as an anchor exhibition. 11th century Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham was also unveiled as the official mascot of the 2015 China Science Festival.
1001 Inventions releases new photograph of the late actor Omar Sharif on the set of the film “1001 Inventions and the World of Ibn Al-Haytham” releasing later this year.
