Mikhail Lecture to Explore Christian Figures in Islamic Art on March 12

Mikhail Lecture to Explore Christian Figures in Islamic Art on March 12

The University of Toledo will host a visiting art history expert to explore Christian figures in Islamic art in the Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture on Thursday, March 12.

Dr. Christiane Gruber will present "Images of the Virgin Mary in Islamic Lands" at 6 p.m. in the Center for the Visual Arts' Haigh Auditorium, located adjacent to the Toledo Museum of Art. Visitor parking is free in Area 3.

Gruber is the Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu Collegiate Professor in Islamic Art History at the University of Michigan, where her scholarship spans medieval to contemporary Islamic art. She is the author or editor of numerous scholarly articles and books and an online catalogue documenting Islamic calligraphies at the Library of Congress.

In "Images of the Virgin Mary in Islamic Lands," Gruber will discuss Jewish and Christian prophets who have been central to Islamic thought and devotion since the emergence of Islam in the 600s. Among them, the Virgin Mary occupies a distinctive place as the mother of Jesus as well as a prophetess in her own right, to whom an entire chapter in the Qur'an is dedicated. Visual depictions of Mary can be found in Islamic lands within mosaics, metalwares, manuscripts and paintings, the latter of which expanded in Iran during the 14th century.

The Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education and the Mikhail Endowment Fund, which honors the work and contributions of Maryse Mikhail by supporting an annual lecture dealing with Arab culture, history, politics, economics and other aspects of life in the Middle East, including issues of peace and justice.

The 2026 Mikhail Lecture also will be livestreamed.

For more information, go to the event website.