Sheikh Faisal opens new museum at West Bay

HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani has officially opened his new museum at West Bay under the patronage of HE Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage.The museum houses a wide range of unique carpets, ceramics, furniture and other items. The collection complements Sheikh Faisal’s much more extensive museum in a fort at Al Samriya Farm. In the West Bay collection, there are more than 200 carpets from Iran, Turkey, India, Egypt and other countries dating from the 17th century up to the 20th century. The unique collection of ceramics includes examples from the Abbasi age and other periods renowned for the quality of their ceramic work. Among the items of furniture are antique Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi pieces and from other Arab and Islamic countries. Located on the sixth floor of City Tower, part of the Renaissance Hotel complex, in the heart of the West Bay business district, the museum offers short stay business visitors and residents of Qatar a unique opportunity to capture a flavour of Arab, Iranian and Qatari culture.Sheikh Fasial said: “I am very pleased to open this museum officially and am honoured to be accompanied by HE DrHamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage. We will continually add more valuable items to the collection as we look to further enhance Qatar’s strong portfolio of cultural assets over time. I welcome all visitors to share my delight in the rich history and creativity of the region which is on display.”This initiative is a continuation of Sheikh Faisal’s role in, and devotion to, promoting heritage and culture in Qatar. Sheikh Faisal personally designed and supervised the curation of the collection and everything related to the museum, including how and where each of the items are displayed, recognising the exacting requirements for special care and attention demanded for the proper maintenance and display of the museum’s collection of antique textiles and carpets in particular.Established in 1998 in the Qatari fort at Al Samriya Farm,  some 20km from Doha, the Museum aims to preserve and display the different collections of arts and heritage artifacts accumulated by Sheikh Faisal over the years from around the world. Built of local stone, with traditional turrets the Museum itself is styled on historic Qatari architecture.