Tareq Rajab Museum a treasure trove of Kuwait heritage

KUWAIT: The Tareq Rajab Museum is an important Kuwaiti monument that documents and preserves Islamic history and culture, Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah said late on Tuesday.

Speaking on the sideline of his visit to the museum, Sheikh Salman said that he was very glad to have seen the rare items and documents preserved at the Museum, stressing that Tareq Rajab and his family did a tremendous work in housing such cultural heritage that made all Kuwaitis very proud.

Sheikh Salman, who is also chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL), affirmed that he would be working with the museum’s administration to provide more exposure. He thanked the museum’s manager and head tour guide Ali Dashti for his informative tour of the museum, stressing that the NCCAL was keen on including the facility as part of three cultural centers to be opened here soon.

Sheikh Salman was accompanied during his visit by Secretary General of the NCCAL Ali Al-Yuha. The Tareq Rajab Museum houses a collection of over thirty thousand items collected over the last fifty years, of which approximately ten thousand are on permanent display. The Museum was opened to the public in 1980.

The Museum is divided into two parts: in Area A, calligraphy, manuscripts, miniatures, ceramics, metalwork, glass, jade-, wood- and stone-carvings are exhibited. Area B contains objects which were produced in the Islamic world during the last ca. 250 years, i.e. costumes, textiles, jewelry and musical instruments.

The Museum has two other major exhibitions abroad. Some three hundred objects, each with beautifully rendered inscriptions, were loaned to the newly built Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore in 1997. A catalogue under the title of Harmony of Letters was published for the occasion. The second exhibition was opened in the Helikon Castle Museum, Keszthely, at Lake Balaton in Hungary, under the title of The World of Islam. The Arts of the Islamic World in the 18th-20th centuries, which was opened in 2002.

On March 14th, 2007, The Tareq Rajab Museum of Islamic Calligraphy opened its doors to the general public. Its aim is to trace the development of the Arabic script. The earliest script in the museum dates back to the 7th century up to the present day. —KUNA