A celebration of Islamic history, culture and art was one of the final events seeing out this year's Harmony Week at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
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Ballarat Islamic Society's Pattan Tausif said the event was an opportunity for communities within Ballarat to learn about the Muslim faith.
"In these times, it's really important to spread the awareness about the Islamic society and what it is all about," he said.
"It's really good for the community to get involved with other communities and know the community - it increases the diversity of the city."
Saturday's sold out event began with a brief introduction to Islam, moving into a quiz, and finished with attendees making Islamic style art they could take home, from greeting cards to paintings.
Islamic art has a rich history, with beginnings in the seventh century in territories inhabited by Muslim populations.
"It was pretty ancient time, the artists used to design the tombs, mosques, home furniture, carpets and rugs, and silk clothing," Mr Tausif said.
"We have a wide range of art which has came from different parts of the world, one is the Middle East, and other would be from the Ottoman Empire and even the Central Asia, like Indonesia and from the Indian subcontinent".
"When art starts from one place and it goes to another, it increases its growth by the changing region, so Islamic art has such a big history just because it's kept changing places ... and growing throughout."
The first mosque in Ballarat opened in 2015, since then, Mr Tausif said the community has grown to nearly 500 Muslims made up of people from all over the world including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey.
As part of Harmony Week, the society also ran a Mosque Open Day where people could tour and were given a basic overview of the preachings of Muslim faith.
"The amount of interest from the local community that you get and the questions they asked about Islam - everyone wants to know what is Islam about and what does it teach us, how does it function on a day-to-day basis and what is people's faith like," Mr Tausif said.
"Harmony Week is great, because how many weeks give you the opportunity to get involved with the community and showcase your own culture and your own representation of your religion".
"And even more, to learn from other cultures and other communities - it's really fascinating to see different cultures involving with different communities and growing together."
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