26 October 2010Last updated at 07:19

In pictures: Cairo's Islamic museum

A display at the Islamic Museum in Old Cairo, 25 October 2010

After a seven-year renovation project, the Museum of Islamic Art in Old Cairo has once again thrown open its doors to visitors.

Zahi Hawass at the Islamic Museum in Old Cairo, 25 October 2010

Egypt's head of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, says the museum now holds the largest collection of Islamic artefacts in the world.

The displays span 1,400 years of Islamic history, from the Umayyad to the Ottoman.

These vases are said to date from the Fatimid period, the 10th to the 12th Centuries.

This Koran, the Islamic holy book, is said to contain the earliest recorded examples of the use of Arabic vowels and consonants.

Also on display are special boxes designed to hold the sacred text.

The Museum of Islamic Art was first established in 1881 in Cairo's al-Hakim mosque and moved in 1903 to the building that houses it today. But the collection quickly outgrew the facility.

Its renovation has been a long and challenging process, one that has seen its Egyptian owners lock horns with their European designers, according to Egyptian press reports.

Middle East

In pictures: Cairo's Islamic museum

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