Museum of Islamic Art

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Overview

About This Place

The Museum of Islamic Art is widely regarded as one of the greatest buildings of the 21st century and stands as the final major architectural work of legendary architect I.M. Pei. Situated on a purpose-built island just off Doha's Corniche, the building is a masterwork of geometric restraint: its white limestone facades stack and step in forms that distil 1,400 years of Islamic architectural tradition into a single, coherent composition. The interior is equally breathtaking, centered on a soaring atrium flooded with natural light. The collection it houses is among the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, spanning ceramics, textiles, jewelry, carved wood, illuminated manuscripts, and intricate metalwork from across the Islamic world, from Spain and North Africa to Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, covering the 7th to the 19th centuries.

History

Historical Significance

Qatar began assembling its collection of Islamic art in the 1980s under the direction of Qatar Museums, with the ambition of creating a world-class institution that would preserve and celebrate the heritage of the Islamic world. I.M. Pei, then in his nineties, famously spent six months travelling across five countries studying Islamic architecture before drawing a single line of the design. Construction was carried out by Turkish firm Baytur Construction between 2006 and 2008. When the museum opened in 2008, it was immediately recognized as both an architectural landmark and a cultural institution of global significance, cementing Doha's reputation as a serious cultural capital.

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