17th Century Quran Mosaic Displayed at Makkah Museum

The Holy Quran Museum in the Hira Cultural District in Makkah is displaying a 17th-century mosaic panel featuring Surah Al Fatiha and the beginning of Surah Al Baqarah. The work spans 76.67 square metres and is composed of more than one million porcelain mosaic pieces, presenting the opening verses of the Quran as a single large-scale artwork.

The panel is based on an original Quran manuscript written in 1656 by calligrapher Mustafa Dhul-Fiqar, with the source preserved at the King Abdulaziz Complex for Endowment Libraries in Madinah. The composition integrates Arabic calligraphy with Islamic decorative motifs consistent with the historic manuscript. The mosaic reproduces the text of Al Fatiha in full and the opening of Al Baqarah across its surface at a scale designed for gallery display.

The display is situated within the Holy Quran Museum’s galleries in the Hira Cultural District in Makkah, where visitors can view the large-format rendering of the script and ornamentation drawn from the 17th-century source. The museum’s focus is on the Quran’s text, calligraphy and associated material culture, with this panel serving as a presentation of historical script and page design derived from a documented manuscript tradition.