AlMadar Tour: The David Collection

Dr. Rasmus Bech Olsen is a curator at the C. L. David Collection - a private museum in Copenhagen, Denmark renowned for its rich collection of Islamic art. He was part of the curatorial team behind the museum’s critically acclaimed exhibition More Than Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam (2024-2025) and has written articles and book chapters on various aspects of Islamic art and culture.

Dr. Olsen studied Middle Eastern studies at the University of Copenhagen and Arabic literature at The School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from The University of London in 2017 with a doctoral dissertation on the history and historiography of Mamluk Damascus. 

 The David Collection was founded in Copenhagen in AH 1364/1945 CE by C.L. David (AH 1294- 1379/1878-1960 CE), a Danish lawyer, businessman, and avid art collector. His main interests were in Danish art of the late 14th century AH/19th century CE to the mid-15th century AH/20th century CE and European decorative arts of the 12th to 13th centuries AH/17th to 18th centuries CE, particularly ceramics. This sparked his interest in Islamic ceramics. In AH 1364/1945 CE, he decided to preserve his collection and historic townhouse in central Copenhagen for posterity. In AH 1366/1947 CE both were donated to a foundation bearing his name, along with the necessary funding. Today, this foundation manages the David Collection.

At the time of his passing, David's collection of Islamic art was relatively modest, but it soon became the primary focus of acquisitions. Now, the David Collection is Denmark's only internationally recognized museum dedicated to Islamic art. The collection includes artworks from various regions and eras of the Islamic world, displayed in a permanent exhibition. Islamic art is also the focus of the scholarly Journal of the David Collection. The David Collection joins AlMadar with a selection of exceptional works of art drawn from across the Islamic world. What links the pieces, whether from 5th-century AH/11th-century CE al-Andalus or 11th-century AH/17th-century CE India, is an emphasis on symmetry as the underlying basis of their ornamentation.