| Qatar Museums Authority | |
|---|---|
Front view of "The QMA Tower, Qatar Museums Authority's building in Doha, Qatar" |
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| Established | 2005 |
| Location | Doha, Qatar |
| Public transit access | QMA Tower, Al Meena Street, Doha, Qatar PO Box 2777. |
| Website | qma.org.qa |
The Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) is the peak body of museums in Qatar. The QMA was founded in late 2005[1] to manage the resources of all museums in the State of Qatar, to develop cultural institutions such as museums and galleries, and to provide an effective system for collecting, protecting, preserving and interpreting historic sites, monuments and artifacts[2]. Its CEO is Abdullah Al-Najjar[3], and since 2008, its director is Roger Mandle[4]. The QMA was the bid leader for Qatar's successful candidature to join the UNESCO heritage panel in 2011.[5] The chair of the board of trustees is Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and other board members include Dominique de Villepin.[6], the French former premier.
The QMA is responsible for the construction, ongoing management and coordination of museums in Qatar, including:
More museums are scheduled to be open in the few coming years, such as the Children Museum and the Sports Museum.
The website of the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers a detailed description of the activities of the QMA[7], which include:
It is important to note, however, that the scope of actions of the QMA goes beyond the aforementioned to other activities, such as organizing and sponsoring various events locally and internationally. Notable examples of these are the yearly organization of an international film festival called Doha Tribeca Film Festival[8], the installation of a Louise Bourgeois giant sculpture in the Qatar National Convention Center[9], the sponsoring of the World Cinema Foundation[10], the sponsoring of the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami's exhibition in Château de Versailles[11][12], and the planned sponsorship of an exhibition of English artist and art collector Damien Hirst in the Tate Modern in 2012[13].
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The Qatar Museums Authority was established in 2005 by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar. Its main goal was to manage the historical and archaeological sites of the country, to supervise the activities of Qatari museums, and to oversee the development of a number of museums scheduled to be open and working by 2020, including a Sports Museum and a Children Museum.
During the years, the scope of activities of the QMA widened and the authority soon became the managing body of an ambitious plan that aims to make Qatar a world-class cultural destination, notably in modern and contemporary art[14].
The Qatar Museums Authority is overseen by a board of trustees headed by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the daughter of the the ruling Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The board includes as well the following:
Qatar Museums Authority is currently managing the following museums:
It is also managing Al Riwaq Gallery
Qatar Museums Authority hosts many collections that are mostly related to the country and region's history and archeology. Some of the collections are permanently exhibited in the various museums, while others are only exhibited during temporary exhibitions.
The Arms and armours collection is composed of weaponry that was once used in Qatar and in the Arab Peninsula. The collection is divided into three main categories: "Cavalry", "Armour", and "Blades, Swords & Spears".
QMA Collection of Costumes is particularly valuable in its relation to the history of Qatar and of the Gulf region. The collection includes also a wide range of traditional clothes for men, women and kids, as well as traditional clothes for tradesmen and robes for civil servants. Ornaments, trinkets, jewels and accessories are also part of the collection.
The collection is divided into four categories:
This collection includes various outfits such as al-thawb (main traditional dress), thawb alshadd (made of light wool) and comes without a collar), the bisht (a cloak usually made of wool, the sirwaal (pants worn under al-thawb), the ziboon (a sort of luxurious dress), and the ghutra (a head cover made of cotton).
This collection includes long and flowing outfits, such as the darra’ah (a long dress), the thawb (a flowing, baggy robe), and the abaya (the cloak, a dress that covers the woman from the top of her head to the feet).
This collection is composed of a wide range of golden and silver jewelleries, decorations and ornaments from Qatar and the Gulf area.
This collection is composed of clothes embroidered in three traditional ways: Alkoraar, which is a hand-made stripe; Alnaqdah, which is an ornament made of palm leaves embroidered with tali threads, and Altali, which is stripes made of metal threads in geometrical shape.
This collection includes many gold and silver coins (Dinars, Dirhams and Fils). It provides valuable information on Islamic history that is not usually found in historical documents and literature, and helps establish facts and the truth about a number of common historical fallacies.
The collection is divided into three main categories:
Qatar’s Natural History Collection is composed of fossils of plants and animals that existed millions of years ago in Qatar and the Gulf region. The collection includes also some of the rarest rocks and minerals in the world, with different dimensions, shapes, colours and origins.
QMA's collection of photography covers the period between the first commercially available apparatus in 1839 to the present time, and is divided into two main categories:
This collection comprises lenses, viewers, early darkroom and processing equipment, early studio furniture and lighting, and photography-related toys and ephemera. It also includes cameras developed for special purposes, such as panoramic cameras, stereoscopic cameras, detective and spy cameras, underwater and aerial cameras, three-colour cameras and tropical cameras [15].
Moreover, the collection includes examples of the earliest motion picture cameras and projectors (magic lanterns, optical toys, etc.).
This collection includes several photos made using the daguerreotype technology, which was one of the first and most expensive photographic processes[16]. The collection also includes images printed on paper using albumen and gelatin silver prints. Some of the photos in the collection are masterworks done well-known photographers as Gustave Le Gray, Francis Frith, Édouard Baldus, Felice Beato, Pierre Dubreuil, Eli Lotar and others[17].
Since its inception, the Qatar Museums Authority has managed several archeological projects, including excavation, restoration, and fencing projects. These efforts helped uncover, protect and document sites such as Al-Khor, Marwab, Umbab, and Zubara[18].
The Qatar Museums Authority releases regularly publications on arts, archaeology, Islamic history, and oriental studies; both in English and Arabic. Examples of these books are "Qatari-British relations 1914-1949" by Yousif Ibrahim Al Abdullah (1999),"From Cordoba to Samarqand" by Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir (2006), and "Traditional Architecture in Qatar" by Mohammad Jassim Al-Khulaifi (2003)[19].