The colour is blue at the Aga Khan Museum

The Aga Khan is the head of a small, but wealthy, subset of Shia Islam.

He is known for charitable works around the world. Today's topic is about one of these, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. I had decided to visit late last year when I became aware of an exhibit based on trade in West Africa during the Medieval Era. I had been interested in this topic since the company I worked for at the time drew on the history of gold caravans in West Africa for promotional reasons back when it first began working in the area. During field work in different parts of Ghana, we discovered traces of the historical economic development of the region, some of which has been described previously.

I also took a tour of the museum, which detailed many of the architectural details which might otherwise go unappreciated. For instance, the theme of the museum was light, and the dominant colour for the exterior walls was to be white. Normally this would mean marble, but it was rejected because a study had shown that marble broke down too quickly for a building which is meant to last for hundreds of years. Instead, a white granite was located from a quarry in South America

White granite exterior walls, guaranteed to last

In keeping with the theme of light, most of the interior of the museum is bathed in light from various windows. Elaborate patterned shutters on the windows throw an ever-changing series of patterned shadows across the interior walls of the building as the day proceeds.

Pattern on most of the windows. Material is cast zinc

A Persian symbol for nothingness

Symbology is important in the museum. Apart from the above symbol for nothingess (as everything was created out of nothing, there must be a little bit of "nothing" in everything), there are hexagonal and more complex repeating motifs in the windows and vents, and even the drain in the centre of the courtyard.

Blue seems to be another common theme in the museum. Especially lapis.

The Dancer. A mosaic of lapis

Hexagonal staircase to the auditorium. Terrazzo from Italy

Looking straight up the centre of the spiral stair

Bar made from matching slabs of lapis

The auditorium. It's actually bluer than this

The dome of the auditorium

Shutter for the Bellerive Room in the museum

The principal symmetry element for the interior is a 1 m x 1 m square. All of the major features in the building line  up with the edge of the squares, or else with 2 m x 2 m squares. All of the double doorways are 2 m across, and the edge of the doorway lines up with the edges of the floor tiles (which are 1 m x 1 m). Even the tiling in the courtyard lines up with the outer edges of 2 m x 2 m squares (the straight segments in the tiles below)

Stone floor of the central courtyard, composed of the same white 

granite as the exterior walls, pink limestone from France, and 

blue lapis

A look at the surrounding grounds (the dark squares are reflecting 

pools in the summer) and the Ismaili Centre.

Nearby, the Toronto skyline says "Hello" 

Dissection of the Malian crisis

An detailed summary of the crisis in Mali from inception to the present has been recently released by the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought, and is presented here. (pdf)

What I found striking is that prior to the turmoil, Mali had passed through about 20 peaceful years, including five elections and three peaceful transitions of power. The speed with which the collapse occurred was surprising, and may be an object lesson in the stability of African democracies. 

News from Ghana

Once again back in Ghana. The power goes off for a few hours every evening, although last night it went off and never came back.

Ghanaians like peace. They don't like war. They will argue loudly in public, but just when you think they are about to come to blows, they stop.

Ghanaians are watching the unfolding situation in Mali closely (I wrote a bit about this before).

Our housekeeper is telling us that Ghanaians are terrified the Islamists will move into Ghana once they have finished with Mali. She told us that everyone is praying that the Americans will come to intervene.

It's awfully convenient for America that two new oil-producing states are suddenly gripped with problems requiring their intervention. Especially when they were involved in the episode which led to the current unstable situation.

Has NATO scored an "own goal" in Mali?

France and other European countries have decried the ongoing coup in Mali.

But is there a connection between the coup and last year's NATO attack on Libya?

The soldiers involved in the coup have stated that their grievances with the sitting government are primarily related to low-level conflict between government forces and an insurgency amongst the Tuareg. The soldiers have complained of being inadequately armed.

The Tuareg are scattered across several countries, the boundaries of which were determined arbitrarily by colonial powers. In this sense, they are like the Kurds--a people rebelling against several countries, hoping to create a nation out of their ancestral lands. The Tuareg do not recognize the artificial boundaries that bind them. They have been a despised and mistreated minority in the different countries of the Sahara. Although a low-level rebellion has been brewing for many years, it was largely mitigated by Algeria and Libya.

The Tuareg had been grateful to Colonel Gaddafi, who had saved thousands of them during a famine in 1973. Many Tuareg took shelter in Libya after conflicts in Mali and Niger, and many served in Gaddafi's forces.

After Gaddafi's fall, heavily armed Tuareg returned to Mali, and the insurgency in northern Mali flared up. Which brings us to today.

Despite the geographical proximity, the only impact I can see the coup having on Ghana is that Ghana may have to send troops as part of an ECOWAS peacekeeping mission.