Museum of Islamic Art opens in fall

Doha: The Museum of Islamic Arts (MIA) has announced that it will open its door to the public this fall with a new visitor-focused layout that will house a larger audience and attract more tourists to Qatar, it said in a statement.

MIA on its Instagram page revealed that after four years of conservation and restoration, a splendid room from Damascus is coming alive again. “180 pieces of a splendid wooden interior from Damascus are going to be assembled these days at MIA to be a gorgeous room again that once was used for the reception of guests.”

Various methods aimed at enriching visitors’ experiences will be adopted, such as integrating technology into the new programmes and workshops and exploring Islamic heritage by relying more on sensory items, MIA Deputy Director, Learning and Outreach Salem Al Aswad said.

This include making replicas of MIA’s famous artefacts so that visitors, especially children, can touch, hold and examine them up close to better understand their materials.

Moreover, Qatar Museums Chief Executive Office, Ahmad Al Namla revealed that 40 artworks will be installed in the country before the start of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in November. He said this in an interview with Qatar TV.

“Today we have about 40 artworks distributed around the country, from Hamad International Airport [Lamp-Bear, Falcon], to Zekreet, artwork by Richard Serra [East-West/West-East, 7]. We are currently working with our local partners, with Ashghal on a beautification project, to place additional 40 artworks, bringing the total number of artworks to 80, before the opening of the World Cup, [which will be] distributed all over Qatar.”

Public art works currently installed include The Miraculous Journey by Damien Hirst at Sidra Medicine; Smoke by Tony Smith at DECC; Perceval by Sarah Lucas at Aspire Park; Maman by Louise Bourgeois at QNCC; and Gandhi’s Three Monkeys by Subodh Gupta at Katara.

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