New museum for uae
Preoccupied with size and height (and yield), rulers and town planners in the Gulf have come up with an uninspiring collection of hotels, towers, freeways and shopping malls that have more in common with Basildon or Houston than the Middle East...
Celebrated architects have designed striking buildings such as the Burj Dubai hotel and are planning structures on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi but the small emirate of Qatar, whose 200,000 citizens are the wealthiest in the world, is about to steal a march on its rivals.
The new Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the Qatari capital, blends the best of western architecture with traditional ideas of Islamic design, raising standards for the entire region.
Doha hosted a legion of luminaries at the formal opening of the museum this weekend just gone, designed by I.M. Pei, the Chinese-American Architect responsible for the Louvre pyramid in Paris.
Unlike his peers at work in the Gulf, Mr Pei has clearly done some homework for this, his last commission. The building is uncluttered and spacious but the references to the Islamic world's architectural heritage are many.
Approached by a bridge on which a riyad, or artificial stream, flows, the museum is set on an artificial island and distorts the sense of perspective, seeming smaller from the shore than it is.
The inspiration is reportedly the sabil, or ablutions fountain, of the Ibn Tulun mosque in Cairo. Externally it appears to be cubist and severe but internally Mr Pei has set ablaq, the dark course of stone used by Mamluk and Ottoman architects, into the cool French limestone with which the museum is primarily constructed. An oculus, surrounded by muqarnas decoration - a Mamluk ornamental device - overlooks the main atrium.
The museum had been due to open in March but the deadline proved overly ambitious. Oliver Watson, formerly of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, was brought in to ease the complex business of opening a fine art museum with world-class ambitions.
Mr Watson says that the intention has been to capture the artwork of the great metropolitan centres of the Islamic world, from Córdoba to Samarkand. The heritage of the Gulf itself will be celebrated in another museum.
"This collection is not big in comparison with the Louvre or the Metropolitan but the quality is astonishing. It can match the best collections anywhere," he said.
Miranda Carroll, a Spokesman, said that the museum has about 4,500 objects in its doors but that only about 850 will be on display at any one time.
The collection ranges from a tughra, or signature, of Sulaiman the Magnificent, early Korans, carpets and paintings to an amulet worn by Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal.
The Qatari royal family has scoured the world for pieces. Three years ago, for reasons which have never been made clear, a cousin of the emir was removed from his post as chairman of the committee responsible for buying items for the new museum. Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed al-Thani had been the world's largest buyer of fine art for several years previously, according to market participants.
The intention behind the spending is to transform perceptions of Qatar. Doha it has to be said has never previously captured the imagination as a city. Like its peers to the north and south it has been undergoing a rapid transformation that has resulted in clogged roads and rocketing property prices.
The Qatari authorities have done more to vitalise their capital than constructing a building that is likely to be used as a brand for the country. They have refurbished Doha's old market, the Suq Waqif, which is within walking distance of the new museum, and the Amiri Diwan, a palace. The result is that Doha now has a focal point, a city Centre.
Source: The Financial Times