Qatar's iconic Museum of Islamic Art will reopen after the renovation of the project and the adjustment of the collection

Qatar Museum today announced that its iconic Museum of Islamic Art will reopen to the public on 5 October 2022 following a refurbishment. As Qatar's first world-class museum and one of the world's most important Islamic art institutions, the Museum of Islamic Art will be open to visitors to Doha with a more convenient, engaging and educational access experience on the occasion of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The exhibition will feature more than 1,000 works of art, including new and original classic collections. Shortly after the reopening, the Museum of Islamic Art will host the landmark temporary exhibition Baghdad: Eye's Delight. The exhibition will showcase Baghdad's outstanding cultural heritage as the capital of the great Abbasid caliphate (750-1258 AD), while exploring the heyday of Baghdad's renewed prosperity due to the discovery of oil in the twentieth century. The reopening of the Museum of Islamic Art is also part of the annual National Cultural Event of "Qatar Creative", which aims to pioneer, promote and celebrate the diversity of Qatari culture and connect partners in qatar's creative field with audiences.

Designed by internationally renowned Pritzker Prize winner I.M. Pei, the Museum of Islamic Art was first opened in 2008 as the first art center opened by the Qatar Museum under the leadership of H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Located on the natural island of Konich, designated by I.M. Pei, the Museum of Islamic Art has become not only a beacon of Islamic art, but also a bridge between history and cultural exchanges between East and West.

The renovated collection hall features a well-established tour, family and child-friendly facilities, and expanded popular science materials to help visitors better understand the background of the art collection. The pavilion will also be divided into different areas according to historical, cultural, period and geographical themes, and will provide visitors with a detailed introduction to the great traditional crafts of Islam. At the same time, the museum will introduce a new exhibition area on Islam in Southeast Asia, presenting the intercultural connections by exhibiting collections of Islamic cultures that represent trade and the exchange of ideas.

"The opening of the Museum of Islamic Art is a historic moment for Qatar, not only as a symbol of our emergence as a new global cultural destination, but also as an example for the development of other museums and cultural preservation institutions in Qatar," said The Honourable Sheikha Al Mayassa Al Thani, "We are pleased to welcome local residents to re-explore this museum and to visitors to watch the World Cup to come and experience this destination, a symbol of Qatar's cultural heritage." ”

Dr Julia Gonnella, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, said: "I am honoured to be able to lead this extraordinary institution into the next chapter. The renovated museum will provide visitors with a more meaningful experience, presenting an excellent collection representing the magnificent history and rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world. "

Innovative Museum of Islamic Art

Visitors to the museum's exhibition hall on the first floor can browse the museum's brief description and gain insight into the story and history behind it. The former Majlis centre has been transformed into an exhibition area that focuses on presenting visitors with the wonderful story of I.M. Pei and his bold design concept for this iconic museum.

Some of the most important artifacts from the museum's collection will be on display in the first exhibition hall on the second floor of the museum, including the Blue Qur'an, the Cavour Vase, the Varanasi necklace, the Ramayana manuscripts of Hamida Banu Begum, and the Lanchetti tapestry. The section provides a brief introduction to the following themes of the exhibition halls, explains the use of materials in Islamic art across regions and historical periods, explores the origins and spread of Islam, explains the History of the Quran and the popular science and education of the Muslim community (umma) in Islamic culture, and the reasons for the expansion of Islam to the east and west.

In addition, visitors will follow a series of historical events, exploring the story of the caliphate from its founding to its eastward expansion into Iran and Central Asia, the development of The andalus court culture, and the preservation of the Islamic cultural heritage in Spain under post-Islamism. The renovated exhibition hall will also showcase a variety of materials commonly used in Islamic art, including carpets and textiles, manuscripts, ceramics, wood, ivory, metalwork, stone and glass, which geographically span Spain, North Africa and the Far East, and cover time from the earliest Islamic period to the twentieth century AD.

Highlights of the gallery include fragments of the Qur'an from the early Hijaz, Sitara in Santa Caba, the Moroccan Arch, a copy of a precious Sufi treatise on the stars, a blue and white bowl of the Abbasid dynasty, a Seljuk stucco slab, a Doha Hind, and a post-Islamist Spanish ceiling.

The third floor of the museum will take visitors on a tour of the Islamic world from the western Mediterranean to the eastern Indian Ocean and beyond, focusing on the artistic and social development of the eleventh to nineteenth centuries. The main exhibition hall features three "gunpowder" empires, including the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Turkey and much of Arabia, the Safavid Empire, which ruled Iran, and the Mughals, which ruled South Asia. Their historical and artistic heritage still has a huge impact on the identity of the local population today.

At the same time, the exhibition area also exhibits precious carpets from the Safavid period, an impressive collection of Mughal jewelry, and exquisite Iznik pottery and pottery from the Ottoman Empire. In addition, the exhibition hall will also exhibit Islamic manuscripts, weapons and armor. The most anticipated new pavilion will showcase the Islamic culture of China and Southeast Asia, which is not common in Islamic art museums but is the largest Muslim region in the world today. In this way, the museum presents visitors with a comprehensive collection of Islamic culture. Artifacts from the Cirebon shipwreck, jade, Indonesian gold jewelry and textiles will also be on display. The three-storey exhibition hall also explores hospitality, showcasing the magnificent nineteenth-century Syrian interiors of Damascus's newly discovered interiors to reflect the epitome of Ottoman life.

The new "Family Walkway", a highlight of the renovation of the pavilion, is designed to engage young visitors to an immersive experience and further attract visitors of all ages through the latest technology, interactive displays and multi-sensory applications.

To enhance the visitor experience, visitors will also enjoy pictures and images of different architectural sites in the Middle East, listen to the sacred Quran and Arabic and Persian poetry, as well as music from Andalus, learn about herbs and spices across the Islamic world, and explore the different materials and decorative details used in the context of different periods of art.

Redesigned entrances, upgraded cafes and retail outlets channel visitor traffic to provide an enhanced and enhanced experience for more viewers. The design and renovation of the building is based on I.M. Pei's vision. During the renovation process, the museum once again collaborated with Wilmotte & Associés, a French interior design and architecture firm first hired by I.M. Pei.

To celebrate its reopening, the Qatar Museum, together with Thames & Hudson, has published an exquisite catalogue of over 500 pages of exhibits highlighting the history and collections of the Islamic Art Museum.

Baghdad: Eye’s Delight

The Museum of Islamic Art's temporary exhibition Baghdad: Eye's Delight will open on 26 October 2022 to celebrate the influence of the Abbasids in the region and around the world between 750 and 1258 AD. The exhibition will show visitors the influence of Baghdad as the political, economic, academic and cultural center of one of the most innovative times in world history, focusing on scholars and philosophers from around the world and detailing the city's resistance through war, violence and destruction.

The exhibition pays homage to the city's past by showing how Baghdad was rebuilt and enduring in the history of the Abbasid dynasty and highlighting Baghdad's booming recovery between the 1940s and 1970s.

The exhibition will contain 160 works of art, including works of art borrowed from the Vatican Library in Vatican City, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, the Oriental Department of the National Library of Berlin, the Bavarian National Library in Munich, the David Collection in Copenhagen, the Benaki Museum in Athens, the Sharjah Bargye Art Foundation, the Dia Azawi Collection in London, the British Library in London, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and others. The immersive exhibition design also depicts the Tigris River on the ground to connect the different themed exhibition halls.

Baghdad: Eye's Delight will be presented as part of the Qatar-MENASA Cultural Year 2022 and co-curated by Dr Julia Gonnella, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, and Dr. Mounia Chekhab Abudaya, Dr. Tara Desjardins, Nicoletta Fazio and Simone Struth, members of the Curatorial Team of the Museum of Islamic Art. The exhibition will also be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue of important academic contributions by internationally eminent scholars.

Meanwhile, city of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952-1982 will be on display on the museum's fourth floor, focusing on works by 11 architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Josep Lluís Sert, Alvar and Aino Aalto, as well as works by Robert Venturi FAI that have been completed or are still under construction. Curated by Professor Pedro Azara, the exhibition was first held in Barcelona by the Barcelona delegation of the Catalan Institute of Architects in Barcelona in 2012, before being converted into a travelling exhibition and has been exhibited in the United States (New York and Boston MIT), Ramallah and Baghdad.