The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr Mozammel Haque

The Museum of Islamic Art, which will be opening on November 22, in Doha, Qatar, under the patronage of Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, had its reception at the Enlightenment Gallery of the British Museum on May 27. It will be a new international centre for learning and creativity. While welcoming the guests, Lord Jacob Rothschild, Trustee of the Museum of Islamic Art, said, "Beyond the Museum it is also the place of learning and the platform of dialogue. [The] museum will develop a fruitful relationship with world class institution like the British Museum."

The Museum is the flagship project of the Qatar Museums Authority, which under the leadership of its Chairperson, Sheikha Al-Mayassa, is transforming Qatar into a global capital of culture. The Museum of Islamic Art is dedicated to reflecting the full vitality, complexity and diversity of the arts of the Islamic world. The Museum is a world class collection institution that will preserve, study, and exhibit masterpieces spanning three continents and 13 centuries.

While announcing Professor Dr Oliver Watson, the new Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Engineer Abdulla Al-Najjar, Chief Executive Officer of the Qatar Museums Authority and President of the Museum of Islamic Art, said, "The vision and mission of the Museum of the Islamic Art is to assemble world class collection of items within our collection representing the full scope of Islamic Art. The collection includes manuscripts, ceramics metal, glass, ivory, textiles, wood and precious stones and also to create a national and an international resource for research, learning and creativity."

Dr Al-Najjar also added, "The Museum will be the centre for students, scholars and visitors from around the world to share in the history and culture of the Islamic Art and also to reach world audience to interactive engagement. We endeavour to engage people from around the world through the activities and events taking place in the Museum and also to establish the state of Qatar as an international centre of expertise in the field of Islamic Art through employing world class experts at the Museum."

Mentioning the establishment of an already exceptional relationship with the world's best museums, Al-Najjar expressed his hope to "continue to put emphasis on building and strengthening this relationship in the future."

The Museum of Islamic Art was designed by one of the most admired and honoured architects of our time, Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Ieoh Ming Pei, whose quest to understand the diversity of Islamic architecture led him on a world tour to explore the Grand Mosque in Cordova, Spain; Fatehpur Sikri, a Mughal capital in India; the Umayyad Great Mosque in Damascus, Syria; and the ribat fortresses at Monastir and Sousse in Tunisia.

Objects in the collection come from cultures on three continents, a huge geographical area reaching as far west as Cordova and as far east as Samarqand, including works from Spain, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, India and Central Asia.

Among the highlights of the collection are a 9th century white earthenware bowl from Iraq (probably Basra), featuring an ornamental Kubic inscription in cobalt blue lettering; a 10th century cast bronze fountain head in the form of a hind (or doe), likely a feature of an Andalusian palace courtyard fountain; A cast brass planispheric astrolabe (984-986 CE, made in Iran or Iraq), which served as a calculation instrument to compute astronomical, astrological and topographic functions. Unparalleled pieces in the Museum collection include a silk carpet, known as the Timurid Chessboard Garden Carpet, made for the Samarqand ruler Timur and dating from the 14th to16th centuries; a 16th century Ottoman imperial decree, bearing the tughra (or signature) of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent bestowing the gift of a palace to his granddaughter; and an impressively large and deep translucent green emerald amulet (c. 1696 CE) known as the "Mugal I Mughal", from the Mughal court in India.

President of the Museum of Islamic Art, Abdullah al-Najjar told in an exclusive interview told The Muslim News, "This project would not have come to light except with the direct support of His Highness Sheikh Hamed al Khalifa Al Thani the Emir of the State of Qatar. Islamic Art is not limited to a country or to a region; I think it is beyond boundaries. We want to make sure that the Islamic Art Museum, Qatar, will bring a dialogue of civilisations into effect and that it's a place that attracts many people from around the globe."

(Muslim News. Additional reporting by Ahmed J Versi)