Museums in Qatar

1. Museum of Islamic Art

The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), opened in 2008, is one of the world’s premier institutions of Islamic art. As one of Qatar Museums’ first projects, the MIA safeguards masterpiece collections of Islamic art spanning some 1,400 years and showcases them through extraordinary exhibitions.
Representing the full scope of Islamic art from the 7th to the 20th centuries, the MIA collection includes manuscripts, ceramics, metal, glass, ivory, textiles, wood, and precious stones. The works have been collected from three continents, including countries across the Middle East, and reaching Spain and China. The MIA presents a changing program of exhibitions illustrating the heritage of the Islamic world and extensive educational activities for school children and families, making the Museum a vital part of the community. Designed by renowned Chinese American architect I.M. Pei, MIA has become a famous museum in the region and internationally, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors
annually.

The Museum announced in spring 2021 that it would embark on a facilities enhancement project and reimagine and reinstall its permanent collection galleries to provide a more accessible, engaging and educational experience. The MIA will reopen in autumn 2022.

2. National Museum of Qatar

The National Museum of Qatar (NMOQ) preserves and celebrates the history of Qatar. It engages with its present and inspires the country’s ambitions for the future. The Museum, which opened in March 2019, gives voice to the country’s culture and heritage through artefacts, oral histories, music, films, and artworks. The NMOQ takes the visitor on an immersive and multisensory journey of its 1.5 km thematic and chronological galleries. The iconic building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, is inspired by the desert rose and
comprises of large interlocking disks of different diameters and curvatures that surround the restored historic palace of the late Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, ruler of Qatar (1913 – 1949). Sheikha Amna bint Abdulaziz bin Jassim Al-Thani has served as a director since 2013.

3. Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art serves as the Arab world’s leading modern and
contemporary art museum. The Museum offers a welcoming, vibrant environment that invites evolving discussions about modern art in the region and beyond. Home to a permanent collection that offers a distinctively unique comprehensive overview of modern and contemporary art from North Africa and the Middle East, Mathaf (“museum” in Arabic) also performs a vital role as a centre for dialogue and scholarship and a resource for fostering creativity. Mathaf was opened in 2010 by Qatar Museums in partnership with Qatar Foundation (QF) and is located in Education City. The Museum was founded by H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin
Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani, who began collecting in the 1980s with the acquisition of works by Qatari artists. Sheikh Hassan later broadened his focus to include works by 20th-century artists throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab Diaspora and objects that inspired many Arab modern artists, such as pre-Islamic works from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.

An initial group of works assembled by Sheikh Hassan was donated to the public institution. Over the past decade, Mathaf has hugely contributed to research and debate around modern art contemporary art, made available to scholars and audiences through the Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World. The Museum made itself a meeting point for scholars from

4. 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum

The 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum is Qatar’s Museum of sports history, offering an unforgettable and inspiring interactive journey through the history and legacy of sports and the Olympic Games. The Museum delivers a multi-layered educational narrative that combines a comprehensive collection with state-of-the-art technology and documents the significance of
sports in Qatar. One of the largest Olympic Museums in the world, 3-2-1, comprises 19,000 square metres of gallery space housing hundreds of objects from around the globe, from the origins of sports to the modern day. Through its participatory spaces and planned programming, the Museum aims to inspire and engage its community and encourage the public to participate in sports and physical activity. The Museum is located at Khalifa International Stadium, part of Qatar’s Aspire Zone Foundation. The Stadium, originally built in 1976, will host
the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM. Abdulla Yousuf Al Mulla has served as a director since 2019.

5. Fire Station

The Fire Station is a world-class artist residency programme for residents of Qatar designed to nurture, energize and promote the country’s artistic and creative community, and enrich the art scene in Qatar. Founded in 2015 and located in a fire station repurposed by Qatari architect Ibrahim Mohamed Jaidah, the Fire Station offers a nine-month programme for creatives across all disciplines, enabling young artists to cultivate their talent through production support,
curatorial advice, and expert mentorships. During the residency, artists engage with
professionals from all over the world who recognize Qatar as a growing centre of artistic talent and creativity. Over the past six years, the programme has welcomed 92 artists and expanded its duration to include a three-month stint at the prestigious Cite Internationale des Art in Paris and New York City at Studio 209 NY, which is part of the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP).

The Fire Station includes extensive studio spaces, a theatre, the popular restaurant Café #999, a bookshop, an art supply shop, and gallery spaces presenting inspiring local and international exhibitions. The Fire Station has also hosted world-class exhibitions organized by Qatar Museums within its expansive Garage Gallery, including Picassos Studios (2020), KAWS: He Eats Alone (2019) curated by renown art historian Germano Celant, Kazimir Malevich: Genius of the Russian Avant-garde (2019), Russian Avant-garde Pioneers and Direct Descendants (2018), Laundromat by Ai Weiwei (2018), German Encounters – Contemporary Masterworks from the Deutsche Bank Collection (2017), and Picasso-Giacometti (2017). The Fire Station is headed by Director Khalifa Ahmad Al Obaidly, the renowned Qatari photographer.

@qatar_museums has revised its 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨⁣⁣ 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦𝐬 from now until 31 December 2022. ⁣⁣
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Members of the community and visitors to Qatar who wish to visit any of the institutions within the Qatar Museums network, should book and⁣⁣ purchase tickets through the Qatar Museums website. Museum admission tickets also include entry to exhibitions.⁣⁣
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The revised ticketing bundles are as follows:⁣⁣

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𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫:⁣
● 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐐𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫

@nmoqatar⁣
⁣
●𝟑𝟐𝟏 𝐐𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦⁣⁣
@321qosm⁣
⁣
● 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐫𝐭⁣
@miaqatar ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐞:⁣⁣
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*100QAR for adults⁣⁣
*free for children aged 16 years⁣⁣
and under and One Pass holders.⁣⁣
⁣
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𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐟: 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐭 ⁣⁣
@mathafmodern in @educationcityqa⁣
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𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞:⁣⁣
*50 QAR for adults ⁣⁣
*free for children aged 16 and under and One Pass holders.⁣⁣
⁣
𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐥 𝐙𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐞 ⁣⁣
⁣
𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐞:⁣⁣
*35 QAR for adults ⁣⁣
* free entry for children aged 16 and under and One Pass holders.⁣⁣
متاحف قـطـر⁣⁣

Qatar Museums:⁣
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To book and purchase museum tickets, please visit www.qm.org.qa ⁣⁣
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For more information and⁣⁣ to purchase One Pass, visit www.qacreates.com/en/one-pass⁣
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Museum of Islamic Art (MIA)⁣
+974 4422 4444⁣
contactmia@qm.org.qa⁣

For more information on what’s happening in Qatar follow @newindoha on Facebook and Instagram.