Islamic Art Museum opens in Doha

Dunia Al Mohamedi
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-01-02

The new Museum of Islamic Art in Doha on November 22, 2008, when 1000 guests from all over the world attended its official opening. (Photo by Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images)

Qatar ruler Sheikh Hamed Bin Khalifa Al Thani presided over the opening of the new Museum of Islamic Art in Doha Nov. 22. It contains a precious collection of Islamic artefacts housed in a building that some believe will become an architectural landmark in its own right. The Museum takes Qatar a step closer to sealing its reputation as a centre of cultural excellence in the Gulf region.

Designed by internationally renowned architect I.M. Pei, the museum contains manuscripts, textiles, ceramics and jewellery collected from countries as far away as Spain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Central Asia.

The Al Thani family had been collecting artefacts and Islamic

The building that houses the museum’s priceless collection is a remarkable monument in itself. Pei said that he wanted to design a building that would express “the essence of Islamic architecture”. The 91-year-old architect spent months travelling all over the Middle East region and North Africa so that his design would reflect elements of the splendid mosques of Cairo and the citadels of Tunisia.

“I didn’t know the Islamic religion,” Pei said, “so I studied the life of Mohamed, and I went to Egypt and Tunisia, and I also looked into the defensive architecture of forts. These designs were very strong and simple at the same time. They had no unnecessary features.”

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani had an island especially constructed for the museum to enhance its stand alone quality and aloofness from the city to house some of the rarest and most priceless treasures of Islamic art.

[BBC Radio, New York Times]

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