Tile with the Great Mosque of Mecca by Turkish Artist

Ibn Battuta started on his travels in 1325, when he was 20 years old. His main reason to travel was to go on a Hajj, or a Pilgrimage to Mecca, to fulfill the fifth pillar of Isla. But his traveling went on for around 29 years and he covered about 75,000 miles visiting the equivalent of 44 modern countries which were then mostly under the governments of Muslim leaders of the World of Islam, or “Dar al-Islam”. ~Office of Resources for International and Area Studies, UC Berkeley

17th century (Ottoman Empire) / Fritware with underglaze painting
/ 24 9/16”x14 1/8”x1 3/8” / The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD

The three lines of Arabic writing in the upper part of this large, ceramic wall tile are from the third chapter of the Qur’an, and exhort the Muslim faithful to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The rest of the tile is given over to a bird’s-eye representation of the Great Mosque in Mecca, with the Ka’ba, Islam’s holiest shrine, in the center. ~The Walters Art Museum

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Previous June 14 posts:

Pride Month~ June 14

Margaret Bourke-White: Born June 14, 1904

June 14: Flag Day

Artist Birthday Quiz for 6/14~