Doha museum opening

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.

Tomorrow Doha will host a legion of luminaries at the formal opening of the museum designed by I.M. Pei . . .

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 museum had been due to open in March but the deadline proved too 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.

From the Financial Times. The museum itself does not appear to have a website, at least not an English-language one; there is a Wikipedia entry on it, however, with further links.

Posted by David on November 21, 2008 9:23 AM