Joey Aguilar

Students from various schools in Qatar will have the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) virtually from their classrooms, NMoQ has announced.

“We bring NMoQ to you! Through interactive galleries guided tours students will enhance their knowledge of Qatar’s history from the comfort of their own classrooms,” NMoQ said on a recent Instagram post.

Viewers can select from a number of themes, including The Formation of Qatar and Qatar’s Natural Environment, The Archeology of Qatar, The People of Qatar, and The Modern History of Qatar. Bookings can be sent to [email protected]

NMoQ tells the story of Qatar across its 11 galleries in an innovative and interactive way, “connecting visitors to lives lived between land and sea.” Families and children can also take advantage of the museum’s educational resources and learning spaces.

Amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in March, NMoQ, along with the Museum of Islamic Art and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art , provided virtual visitors to view a wide range of collections – from high-definition pictures of different artworks to online exhibits – in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.

Some of these exhibits at NMoQ include ‘The History of Trade in Qatar’, featuring ceramics discovered from the Cirebon wreck linking the trade routes between the Middle East and Southeast Asia in the 10th Century CE; and the ‘11 Objects that Changed the World’.

The ‘Pearl Carpet of Baroda’ (19th century), embroidered with more than “1.5mn of the highest quality Gulf pearls, and adorned with precious stones such as emeralds, diamonds and sapphires, was among the highlights of the museum’s collection.

Residents and visitors can also visit NMoQ from Saturday to Thursday between 9am and 7pm, and between 1.30pm and 7pm every Friday but tickets must be purchased online in advance of their visit. A number of precautionary measures should be followed such as wearing of face masks and showing a green code on the Ehteraz mobile application.

NMoQ’s reopening on October 1, which forms part of the gradual lifting of Covid-19 restrictions (Phase 4), also witnessed the debut of ‘Splendours of the Ancient East: Antiquities from the Al-Sabah Collection Special Exhibition.’

This unique show marks the country’s deep-rooted and unique relationship with Kuwait and revealing new insights into the ancient roots of Islamic Art. It will run until January 3, 2021.