The Tareq Rajab Museum of Islamic Calligraphy was first opened to the public in 2007 by then British Ambassador to Kuwait, Stuart Laing. Islamic calligraphy was a major passion of the museum’s co-founder Tareq S. Rajab, who spent much of his childhood marvelling at his grandfathers collection of handwritten and illuminated manuscripts of the Qur’an, ultimately motivating him to not only practice calligraphy himself, but to start a collection of his own. The Calligraphy museum serves as a branch of the Tareq Rajab Museum and is devoted to the display of Islamic calligraphy across a range of mediums for Arabic script including manuscripts, calligraphy and art, decorated ceramics, metalwork, glass and textiles.

Notable objects on display include important works by Yaqut Al-Musta’simi, Sheikh Hamdullah Al-Amasi, Hafiz Osman and Abdullah Sayrafi, a collection of work by Chinese calligraphers, a number of holy coverings including four Burqa’s (curtains of the Holy Ka’aba’s door) located at the centre of the museum and a curtain from the inside of the shrine of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) in Medina. To learn more about the nearby Tareq Rajab Museum click here.