THE MECCA OF ISLAMIC ART

QATAR

Fourteen hundred years in the making, the world’s greatest collection of Islamic art—textiles, manuscripts, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, jewelry and glass—is housed at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. Designed by I.M. Pei after his immersive study of the life of Muhammad and the architecture of Islamic nations, the museum was described as his last major cultural building. (He was 91 when it opened, in 2008.) Concerned about how future construction in a rapidly growing city would affect the way the building is perceived—no architect wants to build a museum and then have a Dunkin’ Donuts come along and photobomb his masterpiece—pei had a word with Qatar’s emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-thani. The sheik, who is also chairman of the museum’s board, responded by building an island in the Persian Gulf just off Doha’s new waterfront corniche to serve as an unobstructed pedestal for the museum and its astonishing collection. Assembled over 20 years from sources in Spain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Central Asia, it covers religious and secular concerns, including geometry, science and calligraphy. Take special care to see the bronze Andalusian fountainhead in the form of a doe and the calligraphy and illuminations in an extraordinary copy of the Dala’il al-khayrat prayer book from Istanbul dating from 1216.

For more information, go to www.mia.org.qa/en