Aga Khan's collection of Islamic art, which visits the UK for the first time this week, highlights a history of cultural dialogue between the Islamic world and the West - and the need to rediscover this cultural conversation today.

The diverse collection showcased in a new exhibition at London's Ismaili Centre is exquisite.

More than 160 works spanning a thousand years, from the 9th to the 19th century, are on display. From textiles, miniatures and manuscripts to figurative oil paintings, musical instruments and ceramics, the exhibition reveals the Islamic world "in all its historic, cultural and geographical diversity."

This is the collection's first pit-stop on its journey to its permanent home: the Aga Khan Museum which will open in Toronto, Canada in 2010. And this is also the first time such rare and highly prized works have gone on show in the UK.

But there is more to this exhibition than just beautiful and rare artworks; Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismaili Muslims, is an advocate for pluralism and tolerance.

He believes the problems between Islam and the West in today's world are due to "a clash of ignorance" rather than "a clash of civilisations".

He sees his collection as an opportunity to open a dialogue and foster cultural understanding. He says: "Many questions are currently being raised in the West about the Muslim world, with countless misconceptions and misunderstandings occurring between our contemporary societies. I thus hope that this exhibition will hold a special significance at a time which calls for enlightened encounters amongst faiths and cultures."

That art and culture could "act as a catalyst for mutual understanding and tolerance" is not a new idea. It stems from the artwork itself: spanning centuries of cross-cultural interaction and inspiration - from Morocco and Spain to India and China.

Indeed, some of the miniatures - small beautifully detailed paintings - from India and Iran bear a striking resemblance to European medieval illuminated manuscripts.

And the backgrounds of some of these works - dreamlike mountainous regions and wispy shrublands - are at times reminiscent of 16th century Italian renaissance oil paintings and at others evocative of ancient Chinese landscapes.

Not only is there evidence of Muslim and non-Muslim cultures influencing each other, but also there are similarities between the artwork of different regions within the Islamic world; a bronze 11th century incense burner in the shape of a bird from the Islamic Mediterranean, for example, bears a striking resemblance to one of a peacock from Iran.

One of the most important pieces in the exhibition is a rare copy of the Manuscript of the Qanun fi'l-tibb of Ibn Sina.

This canon of medicine was "the most important encyclopaedic corpus of medieval medical knowledge in the Islamic world" and, with the advent of the printing press in the 15th century, became the standard medical textbook across medieval Europe and the Middle East. It held knowledge from the Greeks previously believed to have been lost and preserved it for future generations.

See more images in our gallery here.

The Spirit & Life exhibition, organised by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, runs from Saturday 14 July to 31 August at The Ismaili Centre, South Kensington, London. Admission is free.