Light & Peace Museum

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre's ground-breaking Light & Peace Museum explores how diverse religious communities have interacted, coexisted and enriched one another’s cultural and spiritual growth throughout history. Its unique mix of thought-provoking content, state-of-the-art technology, and carefully curated art objects creates a truly distinctive experience – one that is theatrical yet deeply spiritual.

Barker Langham served as the creative lead for the museum, providing experiential and narrative direction, and co-curating alongside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque team. Spanning five galleries and presented in seven languages, the museum delves into the ancient faiths of the Arabian Peninsula and immerses visitors in the radiance of Islam’s three grand mosques. Historic and contemporary artworks highlight humanity’s pursuit of knowledge, creativity and compassion across centuries. At its heart, a breathtaking celebration of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque showcases its awe-inspiring architecture and vision, inspiring us to embrace the values of openness and tolerance as a pathway to building a better, more harmonious world.

We played a pivotal role in delivering the museum’s narrative, content and collections. With our partners Ralph Appelbaum Associates and Michael Grubb Studio, we delivered creative direction, vision development, original research and interpretive planning, as well as the design and audiovisual concepts that brought the Museum to life. We also oversaw collections: acquiring world-class historical Islamic artefacts, managing international loans and commissioning contemporary artists to create unique pieces – including Abdul Qader Al Rais, Othman Khunji and Idris Khan.

With over 7 million international visitors welcomed to the mosque annually, the Light & Peace Museum provides a new space for intercultural and interfaith exchange, and is a project of profound global significance, great reach and lasting impact.