This July marks a significant milestone for London’s cultural landscape as The Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum commemorates its 20th anniversary. Opened in July 2006, the gallery established a permanent, dedicated home within V&A South Kensington for the profound and diverse arts of the Islamic Middle East, spanning a vast geographical arc from Spain to Central Asia and a chronological range from the 8th century to the modern day. To mark two decades of public engagement, scholarship, and cultural exchange, the institution has spent the past year curating a vibrant series of new displays, live craft demonstrations, academic conversations, and contemporary artistic interventions, while looking ahead to future programmes that continue to bridge historic traditions with modern creativity.
Today, the gallery brings together approximately 400 exceptional objects in an immersive environment where ceramics, carpets, metalwork, woodwork, glass, and manuscripts sit side by side. Crucially, the gallery has remained entirely free for the public to visit since its inception, ensuring that visitors from across the globe and local communities alike can encounter world-class heritage without barriers.
The creation of the gallery two decades ago was made possible through the generous support of the Jameel family, marking the genesis of a enduring relationship with the V&A. This partnership deepened further in 2009 with the establishment of the Jameel Prize, a prestigious international award that investigates and celebrates the dynamic relationship between contemporary artistic practice and Islamic historical traditions. This year, with the continued support of Community Jameel, the institution has used the gallery’s landmark anniversary to reflect on its legacy through an expansive public programme, academic conferences, and dynamic community events.
A Year of Celebration and Living Tradition
At the core of the anniversary year’s programming has been a deliberate focus on making and living craft, introducing contemporary artisans into the gallery space to demonstrate traditional techniques alongside the historic masterworks that inspired them.
In May, coinciding with London Craft Week, the gallery welcomed acclaimed Egyptian textile artist Hany Abd El-Kader. He offered visitors a rare live demonstration of khayamiyya, the intricate traditional art of cotton applique, during a sold-out talk introduced by Seif El Rashidi of the Barakat Trust. A select group of attendees also participated in a hands-on workshop led by Abd El-Kader, gaining direct insight into the meticulous skill required to create these textile masterpieces and crafting their own pieces to take home.
The commemorations reached a focal point on July 17, marking twenty years to the day since the gallery first opened its doors. The museum hosted "The Islamic Art Museumscape," a major conference designed to evaluate how cultural institutions worldwide engage with Islamic collections today. The gathering examined shifting museological themes, trends, and methodologies that have evolved over the two decades since the gallery’s launch. Later that month, the museum hosted a vibrant "Friday Late" event in collaboration with Shubbak, titled "Body as a Vessel," which celebrated contemporary Arab and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) creativity.
The anniversary momentum continued into September during the London Design Festival, marked by a striking new site-specific installation by artist Aziza Kadyri that weaves gracefully through the gallery’s historic arches. Kadyri’s collaborator, master embroidery artist Yulduz Mukhiddinova, traveled from Uzbekistan to lead specialized suzani embroidery sessions both within the gallery spaces and during the museum’s "Awakenings Friday Late." Accompanied by a performance from Uzbek singer-songwriter Laylo, the workshops offered approximately 80 participants the opportunity to learn traditional stitching techniques directly from a master practitioner.
Twenty Years On: A Curatorial Perspective
Reflecting on the milestone, Mariam Rosser-Owen, Curator of the Middle East in the V&A’s Asia Department, highlighted the profound historical significance of the museum’s holdings and the long journey of the gallery spaces.
"As curators of Middle Eastern art, we are so fortunate to be able to work with one of the best collections of Islamic art in the world," Rosser-Owen observed. "The collecting history is so interesting as well. Collecting of Middle Eastern art began in the 1850s, when the Museum was founded, to improve British design. Over the next century the V&A’s holdings of Islamic art grew to encompass outstanding and world-famous objects. At the same time, these holdings played a real part in inspiring some of Britain’s greatest artists and designers, including William Morris."
Rosser-Owen also noted the rich archival legacy that preserves the provenance of these collections. The physical space occupied by the gallery today originally opened in 1950 as the museum’s first dedicated venue to display the finest elements of its Islamic collection under one roof. Although the rooms received a refresh in the 1970s, the formation of a dedicated Middle East curatorial section in 2002 made it clear that a comprehensive overhaul was necessary. The 2006 renovation, made possible by the Jameel family, provided the transformative setting required to showcase the V&A’s world-class Islamic art collections to their absolute best advantage.
Fady Jameel, Family Ambassador of Community Jameel and Chairman and Founder of Art Jameel, emphasized the broader cultural mission anchored by the partnership. "The Jameel Gallery at the V&A anchors the Jameel family’s long-standing commitment to supporting and celebrating Islamic art," he stated. "Over the past 20 years, the gallery has become a platform for research, public engagement, and contemporary creative practice, showing how historic artistic traditions continue to evolve. Through my family’s partnership with the V&A, and Community Jameel’s wider work supporting traditional arts and craftsmanship, we remain committed to fostering partnerships that preserve these traditions, while ensuring they continue to reach new audiences."
Five Defining Objects Within the Collection
For visitors exploring newly refreshed displays or returning after time away, curators highlight several foundational masterworks that anchor the gallery’s narrative.
Foremost among them is The Ardabil Carpet, created in 1539–1540 for the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in Ardabil, northwestern Iran, widely recognized as the world’s oldest dated carpet. When the gallery was designed in 2006, a specialized central glass case was engineered specifically to display the carpet horizontally on the floor, exactly as intended by its makers. To protect its delicate dyes from light degradation, the carpet is illuminated for ten minutes on the hour and half-hour.
Another remarkable highlight is the rock crystal ewer, carved in Cairo between 1000 and 1050 for the royal treasuries of the Fatimid rulers. The vessel displays astonishing craftsmanship, featuring birds of prey swooping down on horned animals amidst swirling palmette scrolls, all cut seamlessly from a single piece of rock crystal.
Visitors are also drawn to the towering minbar made for Sultan Qa’itbay in Cairo between 1468 and 1496. This monumental pulpit features intricate geometric patterns meticulously assembled from hundreds of individual pieces of carved wood and ivory.
Near the gallery entrance, a lustrous ceramic bowl made in Málaga, Spain, between 1425 and 1550 greets arriving guests. Featuring a sailing ship at its center, the bowl’s specialized tin-and-copper lustre glaze shimmers dynamically as viewers move around it.
At the rear of the gallery, a newly curated case highlights pioneering printmakers in Iran, drawing from a significant 20th-century art gift presented by Tarlan Rafiee and Yashar Samimi Mofakham in 2023. The display features works by four leading figures of Iran’s pre-revolutionary modern art movement active between the 1950s and 1970s, including an untitled 1975 screenprint by Nasser Ovissi, a key pioneer of the Saqqakhaneh movement.
Looking Ahead
As the anniversary year continues, the programming shows no sign of slowing down. In November 2026, during Islamic Art Week, artist Mariam Ashraf will conduct a live-streamed public demonstration of traditional plaster carving—the historical technique used to construct ornate architectural windows inset with colored glass, such as the 19th-century Cairene examples featured in the gallery collection.
Two decades after opening its doors, The Jameel Gallery remains a vital cultural hub, continually unearthing fresh dialogues between historical masterworks, living craft traditions, and contemporary artistic voices.
The Jameel Gallery (Room 42, Islamic Middle East) is located within V&A South Kensington. Admission is entirely free, and no advance booking is required for general visits.