Heritage Timeline - Aga Khan - To come




The Heritage Timeline 1998

Wedding Photo
Wedding with Begum Inaara on May 30, 1998

January 16, 1998: MOSCOW - U.N. officials and Aga Khan attend seminar to discuss problem of drug-trafficking in Central Asia according to Infoseek.com. The Press release of the AKDN said "Prince Amyn Aga Khan, the Representative of His Highness the Aga Khan and of the AKDN, signing the protocol of accession to the MOU on the behalf of the Network, explained how drugs could undermine all development efforts in the region, including those made by the Network since 1993, in humanitarian assistance and long-term development support that now touches Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.''

January 21nd 1998: From The Daily Telegraph dated January 22nd: The Aga Khan, Prince Amyn, Prince Hussein and Princess Yasmin attended the dinner held last night at the British Museum on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan."

January 22, 1998: Mawlana Hazar Imam was at the Institute of Ismaili Studies on Thursday January 22nd 1998 for a meeting of the Board of Governors. He was also introduced to the staff of the various departments at the Institute, as well as to students of the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities.

February 9, 1998: LONDON (Reuters) - Leaders of nine world faiths including the Aga Khan are to meet the president of the World Bank in London next week for two days of unprecedented talks on poverty and development policies

February 20, 1998: According to Penny Dale of Inter Press Service, "Leading religious leaders from around the globe reached a landmark accord with the World Bank this week, one that aims to put spiritual, moral and social values back into the financial giant's balance sheets... The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader or Imam of the Nizaris, the larger of the two main branches of the Ismaili Shi'a community, was also present."

March 2, 1998: Abidjan (Ivory Coast) - According to Fraternite Matin, a leading news paper from the region, the President of Ivory Coast has asked the population to welcome Prince Aga Khan as guest of the country from March 3rd to March 5th 1998.

March 3, 1998: Abidjan (Ivory Coast) - The Aga Khan will land at 16:30 in Abidjan for an official meeting to discuss of development issues with the president, ministers and leaders of the country.

March 3, 1998: Abidjan (Ivory Coast): Landed at 4:30 PM at the international aeroport of Abidjan. He was welcomed by the Prime Minister M. Daniel Kablan (photo) and other State dignitaries. At the "Pavillion d'honneur" (VIP lounge), He made a short statement to the Press on which he expressed the commitment of the Aga Khan Developement Network to significantly contribute to the development not only of of Ivory Coast but also of West Africa in general(photo) . He explained about the basic Ismaili community's philosophy that he has always invested in the development of Man and Women and this was the notion of development he wanted to see increasing in the relations with the Ivory Coast government.

March 4, 1998: Abidjan (Ivory Coast): A protocol was signed between the Aga Khan Developement Network and the Government. It defines broad principles of cooperations including bestowing A Diplomatic Status to the representative of the AKDN in Ivory Coast. In His speech, The Aga Khan talked about the concept of dynamic development and referred to the conference of the World Bank with 9 religious leaders in London on 9th February 1998.

March 4, 1998: Abidjan (Ivory Coast): According to the official Press Release, The Accord foresees co-operation beyond the existing West African ventures of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). The Network envisages an expansion of the social dimension of its activity. Initially, AKFED will seek to adapt to an Ivoirian agro-industrial project, its successful experiences of an agricultural support programme in East Africa. According to Dow Jones News The cooperation agreement, which formalizes Aga Khan development projects in Ivory Coast, paves the way for new projects in the health, housing, education and environment sectors.

March 5, 1998: Abidjan (Ivory Coast): Left for Yamoussoukro after a successful visit to Abidjan and thereafter flew to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.

April 5, 1998: Houston: At the Partnership Walk, Princess Zarah said in her speech, "The Aga Khan Development Network has been working for many decades to provide education and other basic neccesities to women. Yet the contribution that women make to the economy is overlooked in many countries and it is often taboo for educated women to have a career. "

May 15, 1998: Price Amyn at Serena

May 17, 1998: According to Louise Hidalgo of the BBC, an international commission is set to report to the Tajik government and the Aga Khan on Mountain Studies Officials say, the first undergraduate courses could begin in the next few years, drawing students from around Central Asia.  

May 30, 1998: PARIS, May 30 ( Reuters on Aga Khan's wedding) - Prince Karim Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's Shia Ismaili Moslems, married German-born Princess Gabriele zu Liningen at his country home outside Paris on Saturday, his office said. Liningen is a consultant at the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). She has converted to Islam under the Moslem name Inaara, derived from the Arabic word ``Nur''

May 30, 1998: PARIS, May 30 ( In a press release from Aiglemont, it is said that the Princess, who was educated at Salem School on Lake Constance and at L'Ecole de Roches in Normandy, studied law in Munich and Cologne and graduated magna cum laude with a doctorate in International Law in 1990. Wedding photos were published by the British Sunday Times May 31, 1998 as well as Foxnews. Most of other papers such as Dawn, The San Jose Mercury News, News Day, The Nation, and Today's News reported the event on next day edition. CNN showed a movie clip of the event. Download Movie Clip or Click to view it now.

May 31, 1998: Great photos of the wedding in german newspaper Bild who reprinted yet another such collection of photos on June 2nd. In France, the well known magazines Paris Match and Point de Vue covered the story with even better photos. The Best collection of photos is in the Heritage Gallery.

June 6, 1998: Visited the monasteries of Batopediou and Iviron and the monastery of Zografou.

June, 1998: Several Magazines and Newspapers carried follow-ups of the wedding: The Spanish Hola, The German Die Aktuelle, The Spanish Lecturas, The Zurich International Herald Tribune.

29 June 1998: According to Kyrgyz News" PRINCE AGHA KHAN IN KYRGYZSTAN. Prince (Amyn?) Agha Khan, world leader of ismailits, arrived in Bishkek today. According to the presidential press service, he will meet with President Askar Akayev, Prime Minister Kubanychbek Jumaliev and will visit some Kyrgyz regions, available for tourism business. According to the governmental press service, he met with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Kubanycgbek Jumaliev today. It had been agreed that experts of the Agha Khan Foundation together with the Kyrgyz National Bank would prepare a program of tourism developments in the Osh and Issyk-Kul regions of Kyrgyzstan. Prince (Amyn?) Agha Khan arrived in Kyrgyzstan on 30 June and met with President Askar Akayev in Cholpon-Ata, Issyk-Kul region, the same day. Also, he had visited several Kyrgyz regions and met with their governors. Tomorrow, he will leave Kyrgyzstan for France."

July 2, 1998: Donated $US1 million towards the construction of the MOSQUEE D'ABIDJAN-PLATEAU  

July 11, 1998: Prince Karim Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's Shia Ismaili Moslems, on Saturday opened a $30 million Ismaili centre in Lisbon to promote economic and social development programmes and cultural activities. Guided tour of the Center - click here.

July 11, 1998:(Prnewswire)The Aga Khan, who is accompanied on this visit to Portugal by his wife, the Begum Aga Khan, was yesterday invested with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit by President Jorge Sampaio for his "outstanding contribution to human understanding and to social and economic progress in different areas of the world."

July 1998 Portugal Padhramni Gallery - Must see!

July 1998 issues of Point de Vue (french) and Hola (spanish) had More Photos of the Portugal Visit.

August 11, 1998: Maputo, Mozambique - President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique today signed a Development Co-operation Agreement which establishes a mission of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Mozambique and lays the framework for AKDN’s development activities in the country and thereby the extension of its presence in the East African region.

26 August 1998: "As we move away from the welfare state and more toward a civic society, volunteers become more and more important," said Princess Zahra who was one of the speakers at the World Volunteer Conference in Edmonton (Canada).

26 August 1998: According to the Globe & Mail, "The real challenge for us all is to find ways to broaden and strengthen voluntary effort into the next century," Princess Zahra Aga Khan told the 15th biennial meeting of the International Association for Volunteer Effort in her speech.

26 August 1998: The Past and Future of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture: Reflections on the First Twenty Years. His Highness The Aga Khan in conversation with architectural journalist Mildred F. Schmertz, Paris.

21 September 1998: According to Itar-Tass and news from Dushanbe, The Aga Khan will visit Tajikistan from September 21st to September 28th 1998.

21 September 1998: The spiritual leader of the world's Ismaili community, the Aga Khan, is visiting Tajikistan, home to a small but influential Ismaili community living mainly in the south of the country

22 September 1998: Aga Khan gets a warm welcome in Tajikistan

22 September 1998: President Emomali Rakhmonov awarded The Aga Khant with the Order of Friendship

September 23, 1998: According to Itar-Tass "The spiritual leader of the world Ishmaelites, Prince Aga Khan IV, who is paying a week- long visit to Tajikistan at the invitation of President emomali Rakhmonov, on Thursday left for the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region where the most populous diaspora of Ishmaelites resides."

September 24, 1998: According to BBC World Service, the leader of the world's Ismaili community, the Aga Khan, has been welcomed by thousands of his followers at the start of a visit to the Pamir mountains of eastern Tajikistan. On his arrival at the region's only airport, the Aga Khan was given the traditional welcome -- he was offered salt and bread.

September 24, 1998: Adressed the Gorno-Badakshan Assembly and said in his speech: "Without peace it is not possible to build the human and material resources necessary for sustained positive change. There is no aspect of human history where development has occurred in a state of conflict. It is not possible to build the human and material resources that are required for sustained change and positive change. And no unit of society, whether the individual, the family, the community, a business, the government, social service institutions, schools, hospitals can begin to confront the complex pressure of change, plan effectively and make the investments of time and finances that are necessary for long term self-generating development without security from armed conflict."

September 24, 1998: At the opening of the first Aga Khan Lycée in Khorog, said in his speech: "In recent years there has been an absolute revolution in education. This revolution in education is driven by a number of new concepts. First of all communications, the capacity to bring education through the new electronic networks to the most isolated parts of our globe. The second one is the extraordinary volume of knowledge which each individual has to absorb during his or her lifetime. And therefore the necessity for continuing education. I consider it essential that these new technologies, these new methodologies of education should be made available to the most remote communities wherever they are located in Tajikistan or elsewhere in Central Asia."

September 24, 1998: According to BBC World Service The Aga Khan -- who's visiting Tajikistan -- has addressed a crowd of more than eighty-thousand followers in the Pamir mountains.

September 28: DUSHANBE, (Itar-Tass) - "All the Afghans should promptly resume an open and fraternal dialogue, thereby turning Islamic peace ethics into a national reality and putting an end to hatred and division," Ismailite spiritual leader Aga Khan the Fourth said during a meeting with people from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan and the Afghan representatives, who had arrived there from the neighbouring country. "

1998, September 29,: ISHKOSHIM (On the Afghan-Tajik border): In an appeal to all Muslims in Afghanistan, Shia and Sunni alike, the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismailis, recently outlined a basis for constructing a more stable civil order in Central Asia. (Dawn article). The visit of Prince Aga Khan the Fourth to Tajikistan in September, 1998 clearly showed that the Prince is interested in supporting other regions of the country as well. This article contains a brief look at what has already been implemented by AKDN and its prospects in Tajikistan says Eleonora Yunusova, BISNIS Representative, Tajikistan. According to a Press Release, "Wealth and power," the Aga Khan said, "are not objectives in themselves, but are to be used in the service of others." "Those whom life has marginalised are to be helped... to free themselves from their constraints." "Anything to do with drugs," he emphasised, "is to be rigorously avoided." It is on these ethical premises, said the Aga Khan, that we need to "bring peace to Afghanistan, to eliminate hate and division, and thereafter rebuild the country for the benefit of all Afghans." (Complete description of the Tajik visit here), Complete Gallery including 6 video-clips. "Anything to do with drugs," he emphasised, "is to be rigorously avoided." It is on these ethical premises, said the Aga Khan, that we need to "bring peace to Afghanistan, to eliminate hate and division, and thereafter rebuild the country for the benefit of all Afghans." (Complete description of the Tajik visit here), Complete Gallery including 6 video-clips

October 2nd, 1998: The grandest party of the year was held at Aiglemont, Mowlana Hazar Imam's château and stud farm at Chantille, outside Paris, on the occasion of Mowlana Hazar Imam's wedding with Begum Inaara. Some of Europe's most important personnalities attended, including President Giscard d'Estaing of France, and 34 royalties such as Bulgarian King Simeon, Prince William Alexander of Hollande, Imperatrice Farah Pahlavi, Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia and 23 ambassadors for a total of around 700 guests. Several papers covered the story: Point de vue under the title "Aga Khan IV: Le salut à la Bégum", Paris Match under the title "Le bal de l'Aga Khan pour sa Bégum". See English description with clickable photos here

October 6, 1998: "The AKDN experts and members of the Aga Khan's entourage constituted an impressive range of expertise" said Ghazi Salahuddin under the title A Tajik interlude, The News, Karachi covered the work of the AKDN and the recent visit of the Aga Khan in Tajikistan.

October 9, 1998: Winners of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture have been presented with their prizes at a ceremony at the Alhambra Palace, in Grenada, Spain. The event was covered by the BBC. Acording to the Nation correspondant, the ceremony took place in the presence of the King and Queen of Spain and the Aga Khan and the Begum Aga Khan. According to the Press Release, addressing culture ministers, diplomats, architects, planners and civic dignitaries in the Generalife gardens in the presence of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain, the Aga Khan spoke during the ceremony held Friday, October 9 to announce the winners of the Seventh Cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In his speech, The Aga Khan said: "The search started by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture twenty years ago will continue. It will remain committed to learning and sharing what is learned. Although its focus is Islamic societies, its quest is to develop knowledge and understanding that is outward looking and universal in nature". Herbert Muschamp of the New York Times says "The Aga Khan is also the most important figure in the world of architecture today." - "The Aga Khan Awards for architecture prove that not only fashionable work by media-savvy designers is worthy of serious accolades. The most striking project among the recent winners is a hospital for lepers that the patients built themselves" writes Trevor Boody in the Globe and Mail. As usual, Point de Vue gave the best photos with the article on its October 14th issue. (see also below in the photo section). The French magazine Oh La! dated 15 october gave 4 pages of exceptionnal photos of the event. A vivid description of the whole event was given in British "Independant". India has bagged three of the seven Aga Khan Awards for Architecture for 1998 according to The Times of India News Service

October 10, 1998: Was presented the Granada de Oro, at the City Hall, Granada. In his speech he mentionned: "..that efforts are continuing to preserve the exceptional heritage of Granada, and I wish to confirm here today that the Aga Khan Trust for Culture will bring its support to these efforts." The event was also covered by the Spanish "Lecturas"

November 2, 1998: Times International writes: "The Aga Khan Award for Architecture acknowledges both the sacred and the secular in the Islamic world"

November 11, 1998: Attended with Begum Inaara the unveilling in Paris of the statue of Winston Churchill in presence of many French and British dignitaries. Oh La! magazine covered the event in its 26 November 1998 issue.

PHOTO ALBUM 1998

Ivory Coast Visit - first images...
Ivory Coast Visit - More images...
Ivory Coast Visit - Padramini image 1...
Ivory Coast Visit - Padrhamni Image 2..


Hazar Imam's Wedding - photo 1
Hazar Imam's Wedding - photo 2
Hazar Imam's Wedding - photo 3
Hazar Imam's Wedding - photo 4
Hazar Imam's Wedding - photo 5
Wedding Gallery


First Public Appearence - Hola Magazine
Photo from "Roya Ascott - Three Days Of Flamboyance And Fun At The Races Unspoilt By The Downpour" article from hello
Beautiful Portrait of Hazar Imam from Bunt Magazine
Hazar Imam with Begum Inaara at Races - Bunt Magazine
Hazar Imam with Begum Inaara at Races - Bunt Magazine
Hazar Imam with Begum Inaara at Races - Bunt Magazine and later in October in Point de Vue
Begum Inaara at Races - Bunt Magazine
Begum Inaara at Races - Bunt Magazine
Begum Inaara and Hazar Imam at Races - Gala Oct.98 (34K)
Begum Inaara at horse race - Gala Oct.98
Begum Inaara and Hazar Imam at Races - Paris Match Oct.98
Begum Inaara and Hazar Imam at Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Chantilly - Semana Oct.98 (71k) with Spanish write up.


Portugal Photo - Portrait
Portugal Photo - Gallery!

Wedding Party: The Couple with King Juan Carlos and Prince Willem Alexander of Holland
Princess Zahra and British Foreign minister at the Wedding Party
President Giscard D`Estaing with the couple
Wedding Party: with Imperatrice Farah Pahlavi and Mme D` Estaing
Wedding Party: Prince Sadruddin congratulates Begum Inaara
Begum Inaara`s family at the Wedding party
Begum Inaara`s dancing at the Wedding party
Begum Inaara on cover page of Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998 (39K)
With Giscard d'Estaing - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998 (66K)
With Begum's family - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998
Hazar Imam and Begum with Prince Alexander of Holland - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998 (91K)
With Bernadette Chirac - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998 (56K)
Begum with King Juan Carlos and Imperatrice Farah (poster 210 K) - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998
Wedding party - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998
Applauding prince Amyn's speech - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998 (61K)
Hazar Imam and Begum Inaara (62K) - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998
Princess Yasmin at the party - Bunte Magazine 8 Oct. 1998 (45K)

Begum Inaara and her mother at Alhambra - Point de Vue 14 Oct. 98 (53K)
Hazar Imam receiving the Golden Medal at Granada - Point de Vue 14 Oct. 98 (53K)
With King of Spain and other guests - Point de Vue 14 Oct. 98 (60K)
Giving his speech - Point de Vue 14 Oct. 98 (48K)
Hazar Imam and Begum Inaara looking at a pigeon - Point de Vue 14 Oct. 98 (35K)
AKAA Exceptional photos from Oh La! magazine dated 15 october 1998 (Same are also in "Hola!" dated 22 october 1998
Begum Inaara and her mother at the Ak Award Granada "Lecturas" Oct. 98 (55K)
Hazar Imam and Begum Inaara with the King and Queen of Spain - "Lecturas" Oct. 98 (80K)
Begum Inaara with the king and queen of Spain at the AK Award in Granada "Lecturas" Oct. 98 (36)
Begum Inaara with the queen of Spain at the AK Award in Granada "Lecturas" Oct. 98 (80K)
With the laureats of the AK Award in Granada "Lecturas" Oct. 98 (32K)

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