Art & Cultural tourism in Qatar

Qatar has a thriving arts and culture scene, with a large number of museums and galleries showcasing the country’s history along with contemporary art featuring Arab artists.

Museums & galleries
Wander through Qatar’s museums and galleries which take visitors through a millennia of Islamic Art, Arab heritage, and modern reflections.

Qatar’s iconic museums
Qatar’s unique museums, boasting masterpieces from across the Islamic world, are architectural marvels themselves, telling Qatar’s story as much as the exhibits they house.

National Museum of Qatar
Designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Jean Nouvel, the National Museum of Qatar draws inspiration from and recreates the naturally occurring crystal formations known as the desert rose.

Featuring interlocking discs, the museum spans a whopping 430,500 square feet. Built around Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani’s original palace, and the seat of government for 25 years, the National Museum of Qatar gives voice to Qatar’s heritage whilst celebrating its future.

Inside, visitors can learn about Qatar’s ancestors and the formation of its early cities, with the museum charting the country’s history and progress through the centuries. Exhibitions combine historic objects and contemporary influences, opening up a dialogue around the impact of rapid change.

The museum complex includes permanent and temporary galleries, a 220-seat auditorium, two cafés, a restaurant, a gift shop, separate facilities for school groups and VIPs, heritage research centres, conservation laboratories and museum collection storage.

More museums
Qatar has a variety of museums that offer visitors a glimpse into Arab history and culture.

The Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum
Located outside the city in a traditional style fort at Al Samriya Farm, the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum houses the Sheikh’s personal collection, with a body of works including Islamic art, Qatari heritage, vehicles, handmade carpets, and coins & currency, from over four continents. These diverse and eclectic objects tell the story of the museum’s founder, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim, as well as of humanity in general.

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art
Established in 2010, Mathaf providing a uniquely Arab perspective on contemporary art. The museum’s permanent collection features more than 9,000 works by notable artists from Arab world from the 1840s to the present day. Landmark artists from countries and regions connected to the Arab Peninsula are represented, encompassing Africa, Asia and Europe.

Msheireb Museums
Within the refurbished development of Msheireb in the oldest part of the capital, the Msheireb Museums celebrate the history of Qatar. Four heritage houses – Bin Jelmood House, Company House, Mohammed Bin Jassim House and Radwani House – were restored by property developer Msheireb and transformed into museums that explore key players and periods in Qatar’s history and evolution.

Galleries
Qatar is home to a number of stunning art galleries and public spaces that contribute to Doha’s lively cultural scene.

Al Riwaq Gallery
Located within MIA, Al Riwaq Gallery hosts exhibitions by the Qatar Museums network and has featured several groundbreaking exhibitions by artists such as Mohamed Al Mahdi, Damien Hirst, and Jaffar Al Oraibi.

Fire Station
Abutting Doha’s central Al Bidda Park, the Fire Station Gallery was built in 1982 and used as a fire station for over thirty years. In December of 2012, the last fire engine was removed, and the space became part of the Qatar Museums network. Converted into a contemporary art space, the gallery showcases art and artists, engages the local community, and nurtures emerging talent through its artist in residence program.

Qatar Museums Gallery
An intimate venue for public art projects, QM Gallery is located within Katara Cultural Village, which houses theatres, concert halls, and restaurants. The QM Gallery provides a platform for Qatar’s museums to present their collections. To foster a personal connection with audiences, the gallery hosts artists whose work centres around human themes. These include Yan Pei Ming’s portraits of famous Arabs and Brigitte Lacombe’s examination of female athletes in the Arab world.

Souq Waqif Art Center
Located in Doha’s central market, the Souq Waqif Art Centre showcases traditional Islamic and Middle Eastern art, offering workshops and studio spaces for aspiring artists seeking to learn the fundamentals of various art disciplines. The centre has distinguished itself for its direct relationship with the public through art presentations, exhibitions, and public courses throughout the year.

Public art
Qatar’s commitment to cultural excellence extends to a range of impressive public art installations around the country featuring thought provoking works by leading international artists.

East-West/West-East
Nestled between limestone rock formations outside Zekreet, just north of Doha, lies Richard Serra’s East-West/West-East installation. Comprising of four steel plates, each of which is over 14m in height, the installation spans over 1km. It stands in stark contrast to the soft brown hues of the desert surrounding it, and offers a comment on isolation and the passage of time.

Lamp Bear
One of several impressive sculptures at Hamad International Airport, Lamp Bear by Urs Fischer is centrally located in the duty-free area. The plush 23-foot yellow teddy bear sculpted from bronze, sits under a lamp. Both humorous and comforting, the piece reminds travellers of childhood or precious objects from home.

Maman
A giant spider made of marble, bronze, and stainless steel, Maman by Louise Bourgeois explores the meaning of motherhood and strength, and can be found inside the Qatar National Convention Centre.

Gandhi’s Three Monkeys
Centrally located in Katara Cultural Village, Gandhi’s Three Monkeys by Subodh Gupta features three head shaped sculptures in military gear: one wears a gas mask, another a soldier’s helmet, and the third a terrorist’s hood. Each piece is made of cooking implements, used pails, traditional Indian lunch boxes and glass bowls. Together, the Three Monkeys recall Gandhi’s metaphor of the three monkeys that ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’.

‘7’
Soaring nearly 80-feet above MIA Park, 7 at the Museum of Islamic Art Park, by Richard Serra, is a steel homage to the spiritual significance of the number seven in Islamic culture.

Cosmos
Cosmos by Othoniel is an artistic interpretation of the world’s oldest surviving Islamic astrolabe, which can be seen at the Museum of Islamic Art. Symbolising the path of travellers, the gilded steel installation also emulates warmth and sunlight, and is one of several impressive sculptures at Hamad International Airport.

8 Oryxes
8 Oryxes at Hamad International Airport’s arrivals hall depict the Arabian Oryx, Qatar’s national animal in a herd. The installation, by Tom Claasen, is humorous and telling – a statement about the era of mass travel.

Perceval
Perceval, a bronze of a life-size shire horse by Sara Lucas, can be seen in Aspire Park. A cart with giant marrows cast in cement is hitched to Perceval, contrasting with the painted bronze of the horse itself. This is the artist’s only known piece of public art and is a homage to British culture.

The Miraculous Journey
The Miraculous Journey at Sidra Medical and Research Centre comprises of 14 monumental bronze sculptures illustrating the development of a foetus. Damien Hirst’s installation attests to the beauty of an extraordinary process.

The Force of Nature II
The Force of Nature II at the Katara Amphitheatre is a large bronze sculpture by Lorenzo Quinn depicting Mother Nature as a woman hurling the planet in circles.

Smoke
Smoke by Tony Smith, sits at the entrance to the Doha Exhibition & Convention Centre (DECC). Open and inviting, profound yet serene, the giant geometric components of this 24 foot tall sculpture dominate the space.

Desert Horse
Located outside the arrivals hall at Hamad International Airport, the Desert Horse by Ali Hassan Al-Jaber captures the spirit of travel and the flow of movement, in a nod to the Bedouin use of horses for travel. The artwork offers an interpretation of the iconic desert horse and represents different forms of the Arabic letter “ن” (“n”).

Pouce
Pouce by César Baldaccini is a giant thumb marking a crossroads in Souq Waqif. Its highly polished bronze patina reflects the surrounding light, and is a cheeky addition to the traditional marketplace.

Flying Man
Designed by Dia al-Azzawi, the Flying Man at Hamad International Airport consists of two sculptures commemorating flight. Both are inspired by Bin Firnas or Armen Firman, an early experimentor with flight whose derring-do included leaping from the Great Mosque in Cordoba in 852 AD to test his new machine made of a silk cloak reinforced with wooden rods to form wings.