Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Art lover, traveller, and Museum volunteer educator Kristina LaRocca’s favourite object in our Collection is as practical as it is beautiful. It also speaks to one of the central goals of the Museum: highlighting marvellous interconnections between the world’s major religious traditions.
The object she selected for her The Public Curates video for the #MuseumWithoutWalls is an astrolabe from 14th-century Spain. Astrolabes were used for finding the positions of stars and planets in the heavens in order to determine the time of day in a particular location. Its primary function in Islamic societies was to find the times for daily prayer.
This piece is unusual among other astrolabes of the period due to the inscriptions on its surface in three languages: Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. The presence of these three scripts reflects the social and cultural diversity of al-Andalus, medieval Muslim-ruled Spain.
To learn more about this object in the Museum’s Collection (AKM611): agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/planispheric-astrolabe-akm611
Bringing online Museum experiences to you is part of our mission to connect cultures and promote understanding between peoples. To learn more about how you can support the Museum by making a donation or becoming a Friend or Patron, please visit: agakhanmuseum.org/support
Art lover, traveller, and Museum volunteer educator Kristina LaRocca’s favourite object in our Collection is as practical as it is beautiful. It also speaks to one of the central goals of the Museum: highlighting marvellous interconnections between the world’s major religious traditions.
The object she selected for her The Public Curates video for the #MuseumWithoutWalls is an astrolabe from 14th-century Spain. Astrolabes were used for finding the positions of stars and planets in the heavens in order to determine the time of day in a particular location. Its primary function in Islamic societies was to find the times for daily prayer.
This piece is unusual among other astrolabes of the period due to the inscriptions on its surface in three languages: Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. The presence of these three scripts reflects the social and cultural diversity of al-Andalus, medieval Muslim-ruled Spain.
To learn more about this object in the Museum’s Collection (AKM611): agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/planispheric-astrolabe-akm611
Bringing online Museum experiences to you is part of our mission to connect cultures and promote understanding between peoples. To learn more about how you can support the Museum by making a donation or becoming a Friend or Patron, please visit: agakhanmuseum.org/support
