Following the great success of its visits to London and Istanbul this year, the 1001 Inventions Exhibition started welcoming guests early last week in New York, the 3rd stop in the exhibition’s global tour.
Visitors from different nationalities, cultures and ages lined up to enjoy the outstanding exhibition, which covers Muslim scientific heritage and explores the role of the Muslim world in the history of science, technology and arts. The 1001 Inventions Exhibition takes visitors on a tour through seven areas, showcasing the most important inventions of the Middle Ages. The Exhibition discusses the huge impact which the Muslim civilization has on our world – even today.
At the beginning, visitors start their tour with a documentary entitled “1001 Inventions and Library of Secrets”, which was specially prepared for the Exhibition. Displayed on a 7-meter high screen, the 13-minute documentary accompanies a group of children on a journey in which they discover the period mistakenly referred to as ‘the Dark Ages’. Starring in the documentary is the Oscar winner actor Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays the role of 18th Century’s Engineer Al Jazari. Through their journey in the documentary, the children discover a wealth of knowledge about the Muslim inventions in the period from the 7th through to the 17th Centuries. The documentary won several international awards in the US and Europe.
Fady Jameel, President of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives International, said ‘the Exhibition is seeking to highlight the importance of the scientific inventions made during a period of over 1,000 years which was a period full of Muslim inventions.’ The Exhibition highlights the contributions of Muslim scientists in building the foundations of science and its impact on our current life.
In its 6th December issue, the New York Times mentioned that the Exhibition displays inventions of some of history’s finest scientists and scholars who emerged from predominantly Muslim societies, extending from Spain to China. The prominent US newspaper interviewed
Professor Salim Al-Hassani, Chairman of FSTC and 1001 Inventions and author of “1001 Inventions.” In addition, Margaret Honey, President and Chief Executive of Queens Hall, said that the district of Queens was the logical place for displaying the 1001 Inventions exhibition.
Early this year, the 1001 Inventions exhibition was displayed in London at the Science Museum for 5 months, and was visited by 400,000 visitors. Later in the middle of the same year, the Exhibition moved to Istanbul, where it was displayed for 2 months and visited by 420,000 visitors. The Exhibition encompasses dozens of inventions on display, with interactive displays, electronic games and 3-D visuals that explain the link to several scientific fields, such as engineering, medicine, astronomy and other areas.
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