1. Chair and CEO
Eva Schubert
Tel: +43 676 7444666
eva.schubert@museumwnf.net
Museum Ohne Grenzen
c/o Kanzlei Dr. Kerschner
Markgraf Ruediger Strasse 6
1150 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 676 7444666
Fax: +43 2263 76047
officevie@museumwnf.net
www.museumwnf.org
Dr. James King
Program Officer, Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF)
Institute of International Education (IIE)
809 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
USA Vienna, 26 October 2012
Subject: Dr. Abdal-Razzaq Moaz (Scholars Rescue Fund application)
Dear Dr King,
It is a great pleasure to herewith shortly share with you my experience in collaborating with
Dr. Abdal-Razzaq Moaz within the framework of our Discover Islamic Art project, which was
implemented between 2004 and 2007 with the financial support of the European Union’s Euromed
Heritage programme. Since then the outputs of the project continue being further developed thanks
to funding from various sources including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Spanish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and the Moroccan Foundation ONA among others. In 2010, MWNF was invited by
the League of Arab States to present Discover Islamic Art within the League’s stand at the World
Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Further to this successful cooperation a Memorandum of Understanding was
signed between MWNF and the League of Arab States establishing a long term partnership to
promote awareness about the Arab World’s history and cultural heritage through joint projects such
as the elaboration of a manual about the use of the Discover Islamic Art Virtual Museum as an
educational tool. Arab and European museums continue joining our Islamic art online platform,
which currently counts 52 partner museums from 22 countries.
Dr. Abdal-Razzaq is a pillar of the MWNF programme since many years and his academic and
institutional involvement in our Discover Islamic Art project was of the greatest significance. Apart
from his human and technical abilities in creating and managing the local project team, I particularly
appreciated his efforts to involve young Syrian scholars and his generosity in sharing the results of
his works with younger colleagues. Dr. Moaz was particularly appreciated also by his European
colleagues in the international project team thanks to his academic solidity and remarkable
commitment. For a complete list of Discover Islamic Art partner institutions kindly refer to this link:
http://www.discoverislamicart.org/dia_pm_home.php
Within the Discover Islamic Art project, Dr. Abdal-Razzaq Moaz was acting as the local head of
project (in his position as deputy Minister of Culture) as well as the head of the Curatorial Board for
the Syrian contribution to the Discover Islamic Art Virtual Museum and the Syrian MWNF Exhibition
Trail on Ayyubid Syria. The involvement of Dr. Moaz in the project included research, curatorial work
as well as writing of texts for both, the Virtual Museum and the Syrian Exhibition Trail catalogue.

2. www.museumwnf.org
This link allows accessing the Syrian section of Discover Islamic Art:
http://www.discoverislamicart.org/pc_item_list.php?begin=0&country=sy
Furthermore I enclose sample texts of the Syrian MWNF Exhibition Trail travel book, which was
conceived by Dr. Moaz who also headed the work of the curatorial committee. The attached files
include the texts written by Dr. Moaz and namely the historical and artistic introduction and the
description of the Itinerary in Damascus.
This book is part of a collection of eleven MWNF travel books on Islamic Art in the Mediterranean:
http://www.mwnfbooks.net/books.php?id=tcat (all MWNF travel books are co-editions between a
local publisher and various international publishers covering different languages; most titles are
available also as e-Books; the Syrian title is ready to go to print but because of the situation in the
country we were obliged to postpone the hard copy version and are now planning to start with the
e-Book edition as soon as circumstances allow proceeding with this project).
Finally I would like to add that Dr. Moaz continues being a major academic reference for our projects
and activities concerning Islamic art and the history of the Arab / Islamic World.
I remain at your disposal for any additional information you might need.
Best regards
Eva Schubert