About Us
The Barakat Trust was founded as a UK charity in 1987 and operates for educational and heritage purposes focusing on the heritage of the Islamic world. We provide scholarships and grants for study and research projects at the world’s most respected academic and cultural institutions at post-graduate and post-doctoral level. We support conservation and documentation work, travel for research and education, training programmes, including the training of conservation professionals and curators. We fund publications, and the digitisation of significant collections, and support other projects that preserve the heritage of the Islamic world, raise awareness, and engage with diverse audiences.
We work in partnership with a wide range of institutions who share common interests. Our partners range in scale from huge national institutions, like the British Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Islamic Arts Museum in Malaysia, to cultural, research and academic institutions, professional organisations, and historians, archaeologists, conservators, curators, and others.
Over the past 30 years, we have invested resources in building the skills of heritage professionals and supporting projects in 40 countries. Many of our grantees have long-standing relationships with The Trust, developed over decades. On the other hand, we are open and welcome new partnerships, new ideas, and new generations.
The Barakat Trust is an international non-political, non-religious, non-sectarian and independent charity based in the United Kingdom.
The aims of the charity are:
a) Intellectual Excellence; support, nurture and promote study and scholarship of Islamic art history, architecture and archaeology.
b) Preservation of Heritage; conserve the material culture of the Islamic world and elevate the level of curation and skills in conservation. To further make the material culture of the Islamic world more accessible through digital and other means.
c) Create Awareness; provide a platform for cross cultural understanding and tolerance across the world by promoting the findings, research and project outputs and study of Islamic culture.
d) Sustainable growth & development; develop effective long terms partnerships and sustain current and future aims of The Trust.
Projects
Grantee Profile
Lamia Balfaraj
Country of origin France University University of Aix Marseille Course Study Illustrated Persian manuscripts Grant issued 2011 Area of interest Study Illustrated Persian manuscripts of Sa'di at the British Library and Chester Beatty Library Profile
Yasmin Kathrada
Country of origin India University Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture, VITA Course Visual Islamic & Traditional Arts Depts Grant issued 2011 Area of interest Kufic calligraphy and hand etched glass Profile Yasmin Kathrada was born in Gloucester, UK. An artist of Islamic origins, YK uses traditional Islamic materials, methods [...]
Mehreen Chida-Razvi
Country of origin Pakistan University SOAS Course 2014 Grant issued Travel Grant Area of interest Jahanghir's funerary Complex in Lahore and comparative research Profile An Art Historian specialising in the arts, architecture and material culture of the Islamic World and Mughal South Asia. Taught courses on the art and material [...]
The British Museum
Country of origin UK University Conservation Course Conservation Internship Grant issued 2010 Area of interest Barakat Trust conservation internship at the British Museum Profile
Media
News
Hamida Alireza, Founding Barakat Trustee Receives the Saudi-British Society Rawabi Holdings Award
The Barakat Trust is proud to announce that Ms Hamida Alireza, one its founding trustees, received the Rawabi Holding Award from the Saudi-British Society, on Wednesday February 20th, at the [...]
Launch of Converging Paths on February 12th, 2019.
We are very happy to announce the successful launch of our year-long series of cultural events "Converging Paths" developed and delivered with Asia House on February 12th, 2019. The first [...]
The Wells of Memory
One of the first travelers in a century to walk through the Hejaz desert of Saudi Arabia, Paul Salopek encounters a fabled past of caravans and pilgrims, of empires come [...]
