In addition to the Permanent Collection, the Aga Khan Museum features several temporary exhibitions each year that respond to current scholarship, emerging themes, and new artistic developments.

The location in Don Mills, Toronto, Canada, was confirmed in 2002, after protests blocked a $60-million[a] offer for a site on the River Thames across from the British Houses of Parliament.

[8] The first exhibitions were organized in two parts: The Word of God consisting of sacred texts and related objects and The Power of the Sovereign reflecting Muslim courts and their figures.

It houses a permanent collection of over 1,000 objects including rare masterpieces of broad range of artistic styles and materials representing more than ten centuries of human history and geographic area.

Clad in sandblasted white Brazilian granite, the surfaces of the building are set in motion in a constant interplay with the sun in light and deep shadows.

The courtyard's glass walls are imprinted with a double-layered pattern that creates a three-dimensional effect recalling the traditional Islamic Jali screens.

Up above on the second level, four large openings overlook the public spaces through a cast zinc screen in the form of a contemporary Musharabiya, an Islamic bay window.

Within the galleries, large aluminum paneled skylights perforated with small hexagonal openings emit soft natural light into the exhibition areas.

The Aga Khan Museum is dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, display and interpretation of artifacts relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious traditions of Muslim communities, past and present.

[citation needed] The collection, which comprises some 1,000 objects,[24] includes several superb examples of Qur'an manuscripts that demonstrate the variety of script, media and decorative styles that evolved in the Muslim world.

[25] The room is a recreation of the "La Chambre Persane," or "Persian Salon," in their home, Château de Bellerive in Geneva, Switzerland, where part of the collection was originally on display.

Their styles reflect the innovative technological and aesthetic contributions of Islamic potters through the ages, which were often in dialogue with influences from as far afield as China and Europe.

[28] The exhibition titled 'Sanctuary' showcases immigrants' experience using rugs as a medium to share narratives to demonstrate stories, histories, place, and purpose.

The travelling exhibition integrates family photographs, first-hand accounts, historical documents, and personal interviews that "showcase the courage and resilience of the countless Ismaili Muslims who fled their homelands in search of refuge."