Aga Khan Museum in Shelburne

Such a gorgeous museum! We got in for free for DoorsOpen TO event. It was lovely. You have to pay for parking which isnt too much and the outdoor area/garden is super pretty (anyone can access this even without a ticket). Nice spot to relax.

Amazing place, peaceful, energetic, full of knowledge about Muslim World. It take you way back in time as you can feel it. Amazing sculptures, pictures, monuments, art. Its mind blowing and one in life time experience.

We had a really good arranged tour of the Ismaili Centre where we learned a lot. What a beautiful building with meaningful art. Lunch at the Cafe in the Aga Khan Museum building was delicious. The gift shop is not to be missed for tasteful beautiful things to admire or purchase.

Only the permanent exhibit is open today, but that is a beautiful if not smallish variety of artifacts spanning Persia, Arabian peninsula and some of Europe. The grounds are very pretty; and the staff are all generous and kind.

Excellent museum they have free admission on Wednesday , really nice historical artifacts . The place is very zen and relaxing also a good place to wonder around . It’s pretty big as well and has an eating area . Highly recommended if you like exploring other cultures .

Really beautifully curated Islamic Museum. I was honestly surprised to find how neutral it was- they had items from all different sects and countries, and no bias implied or preferences for any one group of Muslims.The doormen inside are very nice and helpful. The gardens outside are also beautiful. The only thing is I wish it was a little brighter inside the museum.There was no wait on a Sunday morning. We bought tickets in advance but you definitely didn’t need to.

Visiting from the States, and found this museum on Google maps, so I had to visit. I love anything related to Islamic art and this museum didn’t disappoint. It is very beautiful (architecture wise). They have a nice variety of historic artifacts from the Islamic world.

Pretty stunning location with superb collection of art from all over the Islamic world. The building and setting is ascetically minimalist. A haven of peace amid the hustle amid the commercial buildings in its neighbourhood. The gift shop contains some beautiful ceramics and other items brought in from across the globe. Well worth a visit. I will have to go back and use one of the audio tours as the collection is so extensive it needs a story to hang together.

The Aga Khan Museum is beautiful, with well landscaped grounds and impeccable staff; these are the positives. The museum itself offers very limited exhibits. While there are some magnificent pieces, there just isnt enough to justify the ticket cost or visit. I felt as if I left with no new knowledged gleamed from my time at the museum.

After marveling at the stunning building during my many days of commuting, we took the opportunity today to visit. Let me first say that the staff are 5/5 with their attentiveness and ensuring that the guests are comfortable in their experience. The grounds were stunning and the architecture inside and outside were beautiful. Unfortunately, the positive experience ends with that. From the $10 to park to the $20 for admission per person, I was left wanting more. The exhibits were limited and did nothing to really expose those curious visitors about the culture. This is a half a day at most visit (more like an hour to two). This was definitely a one time visit. I would also not encourage people to attend this museum with children (we did not bring oursas the experience is more geared towards a mature audience.

Beautiful and very informative, for people interested in Islamic History. The staff was the best, super friendly and helpful.

Wishing could give 5 stars. I found the Images exhibit poorly lit and some of the items were hard to see they were set too far back in their glass cases to have a good look. Often the captions were white on a light background and many were at waist level so even I at 55" had a tough time reading them in the dim light. All these issues would be easy to fix, so I found that disappointing. Now Ive got that off my chest, the exhibits are good and interesting. The building is amazing. I had a fantastic wild mushroom sandwich at the super-friendly cafe/atrium and there is a lovely full serve restaurant that I bet would be wonderful.I think the AKM is worth visiting and with a few tweaks would be better.

Best museum in Toronto.Definitely a good self-study place. Free entry every Wed 4-8pm , no reservation needed.Nice peaceful place to learn about Muslins culture and Silk Road.

It’s more than a museum. It’s Elegant, Serene and family oriented place. Well maintained. A must see times if the year are; winter time, cherry blossom season ( they have a weeping cherry blossom treesphenomenal! And definitely at every sunset ! The reflection of the sun on the structure and glass is amazing.

Good location if you are interested in the history of Islamic caliphate. Easy to find and adequate parking. No need to pre-book or buy tickets ahead. Entry fee was 20bucks. Not very popular so it was an easy in, exploration and out.

Loved the museum. My favorite was the original exhibit.

I loved the modern look of the museum, and its a bus ride straight from Eglinton Station. It was a pleasant experience to learn more about Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Islamic history. I feel like theres too much emphasis on European culture in general, so its nice to see a museum that focuses on other parts of the world for a change. Although I should put a disclaimer that Im Middle Eastern myself so I have a bias lol. Although its not half as packed as the Art Gallery of Ontario, it also had less than half the crowd of the latter, so you can really absorb and become immersed with the material without having to constantly mind the people around you. If I had to nitpick, its that it can be very dim lit. It took me about 3 hours to see the permanent and temporary exhibitions (that includes reading information about whats on display). I wanted to try the restaurant, but its closed on Mondays so keep that in mind if that concerns you. Theres a small cafe available however.

Super awesome sauce loved it would come again fo sho but 1why is there like a colonizer art thing looking down from the second floor it’s kind of weird and sad and 2I feel like the security guard was defo following me Becuz when I went upstairs all of a sudden I saw him upstairs even tho he’s working down and then as soon as I went downstairs with the elevator he came in the elevator to go down I was like wut am I that cute but yah loved it !!!!!! But also why is everything about birds -love , an emirati girl who appreciates that there was a gulf Section

Beautiful, informative. Priced 20 dollars. They have a restaurant and gift shop you cant ignore viewing what they have. It has two floors takes about 2 hours.

We liked the new exhibits each time we come here.

Great place, truly remarkable.Must visit place in Toronto.

The Museum was underwhelmingly short and ended about as soon as it started although the exhibit was fascinating, the length left a bad taste overall. I would still suggest you visit but dont expect to spend too much time inside. However, the exterior architecture is beautiful and the events happening outside were very interesting.

Went on Canada Day and it was free access! Stunning exhibition! Very clean and quiet! Perfect way to spend a slow day.

Good place to visit on a free day, though its very small for a major museum. Only about 40 mins of material to view, all in one big L-shaped room. Some exquisite outstanding works of craftsmanship, but they need to expand the collection and maybe work on providing better context for the uninitiated.Recommended if its afree, bclose, and cyou dont have 1st tier alternatives.

Fun plus educational day in museum, fine dinning from Wednesday to Sunday. Their free audio tours was great. Guided tour can be reserved for Wednesdays only. Parking is flat rate 10$.

Very different! It’s a great window to view the different cultures and art

I went there during the event of Doors Open Toronto, so admission is basically free, but you need to buy a $10 ticket to visit the second floor which I didnt.

An excellent architectural masterpiece built by great architects from across the world. Every minute details are considered in design, from landscape and play of leaves colours, water elements to bring in mirror effects, texture from granite from Latin American countries. Wandering through the campus is a learning experience and a joy for all 5 senses.

This temple of truth and tolerance finally adds something interesting amidst the dull concrete facades along Wynford drive. The reflecting pools outside complements the white marble structure that is the stand in for Vulcan on Star Trek Discovery. The exhibits also shows how connected we are with Persian, Chinese, Turkish influences on Islamic art all housed in a building designed by a Japanese architect. Celebrate diversity and inclusion here.

We enjoyed a lot. its a interesting place to visit at least one time.also, the outdoor area is very nice and unique.

The museum and grounds are in immaculate condition. Great photo ops, especially on a sunny day. The temporary exhibit was much more interesting than the permanent ones.The museum had art, historical items from several centuries ago...but nothing that pulled at your emotions. It failed to tell a powerful story, especially considering how much prejudice the Islamic community has experienced over the years. Perhaps they wanted to remain neutral on the topic. But, in the least I was hoping to come out with a better understanding of Islamic culture and practices. I dont feel like I learned anything about my Muslims brothers and sisters. I just feel like I saw a bunch of really old plates.

Excellent architecture and marvelous art collection. Truly an inspiration to many upcoming artist and out of the box image gallery theme. Left visitors speechless and deep dived in methodological explanation to art piece. The journey of art from Asia to Africa and Canada is rapturous.Pro tip: Visit the museum on Wednesday from 4-8PM EDT will give you free access to exhibition.Reserve your table at Deewan restaurant in advance to avail ongoing perks and discounts.

2 hrs would be more than enough to visit this museum. It is family oriented, hence all the screaming kids! Lots to learn about Islam.Lighting is poor.Parking is poorly marked - we found the underground parking by fluke!If you are in the area and need to kill time, I would recommend, but a special trip for this may not be justifiable.

Beautiful building and grounds. The cafe courtyard is a nice, quiet area to take a bit of a break as well.

A great visit... Beautiful grounds and exhibits. Spent three hours there. You could do in less or more time depending on how much you want to read/listen. Had a light lunch (egg and croissant sandwich $9.99in the lovely courtyard. Very clean building... All doors are non-contact (wave hand to open). The temporary photo exhibit outside is a pleasant walk and informative. If you want to visit the Ismaili center nextdoor, its only open to public tours on Saturdays (book 2 days before though). Open for prayers every day I think. Across the road is the Japanese Cultural Centre, open for free. I recommend a visit to all three in one day.

At best, the entire contents of the entire museum would fill two rooms in a proper museum. Prepare to be confused at the lack of signage around the museum. I found the best way to deal with it is to treat it like an escape room. Staff told me they were going for a minimalist approach. Well theyve succeeded. Its so minimalist its like a game of hide and seek. For example, the pillar with the tiny sign for parking is 5 metres off from the road. When was the last time you looked for the parking sign to the right of your vehicle instead of ahead? Apparently there are a lot of return clientele. I think they mean people who return for their childrens recitals in the auditorium, not necessarily the museum visitors. Staff was lovely as they were explaining this to me. Im glad I work with tourists because I will make it my duty to dissuade people from visiting here. Oh! And they have underground parking! But its not labeled.. part of this whole escape room vibe they have going.Pros: clean bathroom.

a wonderful place with lots of valuable exhibits. I spent three hours exploring. A good restaurant. Delicious food.

Peaceful and calm walking around this museum. Learnt so much. Everyone working there from security to gift store to coat check and in exhibit staff were incredibly friendly and willing to offer suggestions on how to move through the museum! Can’t wait to return in the summer to see the grounds in full bloom!

Interesting place to visit at least once. It’s not big so you can see everything in 2hrs. I loved the fact that they offered free coat check but no one was there to supervise it. If you have an expensive coat/jacket don’t leave it there!It’s a really beautiful place, and I enjoyed my time there.However, I was not happy with the lighting of the whole place as I found it dark and not the best type for a museum since we are there to observe the items and read description.The place could of used some nice music but didn’t have any. The security guards were good.The items placed too close to each other and it didn’t have any specific order to follow. Lots of scripts, paintings and old books to look at.If you love museums you should go but if you are looking for a fun museum definitely not the best to be at!

This is a pleasant visit for the family, Sundays are good with children as they have some craft activities from 12-4pm. The main exhibition was well laid out and plenty of manuscripts to see. The special exhibition had many beautiful garments. I enjoyed learning Islamic history from Persia, South Asia, China as well as some Christian and Jewish history. Quite amazed by the historical manuscript collection.Im Really Very Happy to See that Museum 😊.

Super friendly staff, modern museum, stroller friendly, and have pockets of places for kids to read and play. Underground parking is convinent for winter. Highly recommended!

Dec 2021 Visited again for an event, the place was well organised and immaculately clean, the staff were tremendously helpful despite the lack of clarity from the event organisors, which the museum cant control! the washrooms were clean, the halls had great acoustics and the presentations were excellent as usual! A wonderful place to visit every time, summer or winter.Original review from 2018:We visited the museum during open doors. It is a beautifully designed and situated building. The place is gorgeous next to 5 serene fountains and open spaces.We had the pleasure of seeing the permanent collection which gave us insights into the growth and history of a faith.The museum has plenty of rooms to host events, we had seen a lovely music performance by an English band accompanied by beautiful visuals.There is a restaurant which serves sandwiches, soft drinks and juices, sambosas and empanadas. Though the items are a bit pricey.In short it is a great combination of history, art and novelty.

The museum is an architectural marvelAll the artefacts and pieces are carefully placed along with their history mentioned, definitely recommend to get one of the guides to show you around.You really get to know about Islamic history over time.Parking is a little expensive at $10 regardless of time spent there ( they have both overground and basement parking)

I highly recommend visiting this world class museum! I had an amazing experience visiting the Aga Khan. Not only is it spectacular architecturally, but the way in which they display their collection is innovative and informative. The artifacts they have are impressive, and with many audio tours available you can visit the museum many times, each time having a different experience. Such a peaceful space!

This is a pleasant visit for the family, Sunday’s are good with children as they have some craft activities from 12-4pm. The main exhibition was well laid out and plenty of manuscripts to see. The special exhibition had many beautiful garments. I enjoyed learning Islamic history from Persia, South Asia, China as well as some Christian and Jewish history. Quite amazed by the historical manuscript collection.

Nice museum to visit if you are interested in calligraphy, carpets, porcelaine and intricate carvings. It is a small museum so expect to spend 45 mins to 90 mins between the permanent collection and temporary exhibits. The building is quite nice and minimalistic and has a courtyard in the middle.

A beautiful building housing an outstanding collection of art and artifacts that helps visitors to.explore new perspectives on Islamic civilization.Well curated and with a great array of audio tours available on your mobile device (dont forget your headphones or earbuds). I like the fact that photography was permitted (without flash please! I enjoy being able to take a photograph of interesting pieces so that I can study them after my visit.My visit left me wishing that I read Arabic, as so many of the pieces have beautiful calligraphy. Many pieces are from the Quran and also from pieces of great Islamic literature. Beautiful works of illuminated manuscripts and other artwork abound.

An excellent display of Persian, Mughal art work. They have a large collection of books and manuscripts. The museum is designed well and they have a very good collection which they keep on changing from time to time. Definitely one of the places to visit in Toronto if you are an art buff. They also have a gift shop with a wide variety of Turkish crockery, silk ties, silk scarfs and beautiful art work for sale.

We had a wonderful time at Aga Khan and learned so much about Islamic culture. The architecture is magnificent! Great spot for photos as well. We took our toddler there and spent about 1.5 hours there. The building is beautiful outside as well as inside. There is a cafe, restaurant and gift shop inside. Nice place for a date.

Ive been here a few times now and I absolutely love this museum. If you have a connection or an interest in Islamic societies this place is a goldmine of information. Ive learned something new everytime Ive visited and its lead me down some really cool rabbit holes. Im very grateful for this museum as it has helped me learn so much about the history of my ancestors.